


Lullaby

by A_Pirates_Love_For_Me



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Rewrite, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Pining, Singing, Slow (ish) burn, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 13:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10832634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Pirates_Love_For_Me/pseuds/A_Pirates_Love_For_Me
Summary: Soulmates AU: Songs playing in your head are actually your soulmate singingFor as long as she can remember, Emma Swan has heard a voice in her head. A man singing to her that no one else can hear. The voice comforts her through the years, but just who is he? Why is she the only person who has a constant serenade in her mind?Killian Jones never expected a soulmate. They were rare, something that only happened in stories. But then he heard the voice in his head. The lass who wouldn't leave him alone. Who didn't allow him to fall fully into the darkness of revenge. But will he ever find her?





	1. The Song of Swan

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! In honor of the musical episode I decided to start a singing soulmates AU. It's inspired by a tumblr post I saw literally forever ago.  
> These first two chapters are going to be background information with the real action starting in chapter 3 so please bear with me! I promise the chapters will get longer once I get into the action. Hope you enjoy!!

Emma Swan was born with a song in her head. A Gaelic lullaby that stayed with her as her parents thrust her into a wardrobe and she fell into a new realm. The deep, melodic voice kept her calm when she fell out of a tree on to the side of the road.

The voice stayed with her through her early years. Nearly every day she would hear a song in her head. A song that was not being sung by anyone around her. It was the only thing that could get her to calm down, despite the fact that more often than not, the songs were bawdy sailors tunes not meant for children’s ears.

Even with the near constant music between her ears, Emma didn’t start to sing until she was nearly three years old. The Swan’s hadn’t been a musical family and the tunes in her head were not ones that she’d be able to join in on. But then she’d moved homes for the first time. The Swan’s had their own kid, so they’d put Emma back in the system. Her next house decided that the best way to handle children was to sit them in front of the TV for as much time as possible. It was through this practice that Emma started to sing for the first time.  

It was the middle of summer and Emma was the only child left inside. She was the youngest child at the home and got left out whenever the others went to play. Not that she really minded. She had the voice in her head to keep her company. Her foster mother hadn’t wanted to deal with her so Emma found herself alone in front of the TV. A well-worn VHS tape of Snow White playing. While she was watching the voice in her head started up again. A soft song, like one sung under the breath. It was normal. The voice was almost always singing something. It was usually quiet, like they were singing to themselves. Sometimes they were loud and yelling, like her foster parents when they had too much of the adult juice she wasn’t supposed to touch. Emma had tried talking to the voice before but it never responded. Never even made any indication that it noticed her. So she’d stopped talking to it. Today, though, she would sing to it. Like it had sung to her for as long as she could remember.

Emma had seen Snow White hundreds of time, it was the only movie they owned that they thought was appropriate for her age and therefore what they put on every time she was left inside. When Snow White started to sing, Emma sang along. She knew this music by heart. Almost as soon as she started she heard the voice in her mind wobble then it stopped completely. It didn’t deter Emma, though. The voice often stopped without warning. She just kept singing along to the film until halfway through when her foster siblings came back in and yelled at her to be quiet.

The voice was silent for the rest of the week and Emma didn’t try to sing to him again. She was scared that she’d driven him away. She missed him. That voice was her only friend. She tried asking her foster family about it, trying to figure out what she’d done wrong, but they just told her that he was imaginary. That people didn’t have voices in their heads to sing to them. She knew he was real but no one would believe her. So she stopped asking.

Emma was nearly asleep when she heard it. The loud singing she’d been missing for the past week. She looked around quickly to hear if anyone else could hear, but like always, no one else stirred. It was her mystery friend. He was back. A huge smile appeared on her face as she listened to the obscene song. She didn’t understand what it meant but that didn’t matter. He hadn’t left her.

////

Through the next three years Emma was in 12 different foster and group homes. The only constant she had in her life was the voice in her head. It had changed over the years. There were fewer bawdy songs, and when they did appear the words were slurred together. He had resumed the quiet singing through the day. It had been a slow process, it wasn’t until nearly a year after she’d first sung that he was back to the constant singing. But it happened eventually which was all that mattered. It was probably the only thing keeping Emma sane as she dealt with a near endless stream changing homes and families. At least whenever she changed homes, she had a friend with her. Even if he was only in her mind.

There was another thing that never changed. Every year on her birthday he sang the same lullaby. It wasn’t really for her. But he did sing it every year. And every year it was her favorite present.

She’d also started singing back to him. There were of course the music classes in school where she had to sing along with the group. But she didn’t stop it there. Emma was learning to tell his emotions through what he was singing. She recognized the songs that he sung when he was sad or lonely. And then she’d sing back. She thought he could hear her too and hoped that she was cheering him up. They still couldn’t talk, she had no idea who he was or what he looked like, but he was her best friend and she wanted to make him feel better.

But then he stopped. For nearly a year there was complete silence between her ears. The only music she heard came from the world around her. So she cried. He was her best friend and he’d left her without a word. She still sang to him during that time. When she missed him most she would sing through her tears. She didn’t know many songs, just the silly ones she learned at school and parts of ones her foster siblings would play on the radio, but she still sang.

The silence stopped on her birthday. She woke up to the lilting lullaby softly echoing in her brain. At first she thought she’d imagined it. That he was still gone. But it didn’t stop. For near the entire day he kept singing to her. Despite the fact that she was only seven years old she thought he sounded like he was sorry. He was definitely sad. So before she went to sleep, she responded to him. She sang the lullaby along with him.

////

Over the next decade Emma lost the music. The voice in her head had never resumed singing at the same rate it used to. And as she got older, Emma didn’t try to respond. Sure every birthday she heard the lullaby, but she convinced herself it was all in her head. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. No one had ever heard of hearing someone singing to them in their mind, she’d checked. It was just her childhood self wanting a friend. And when she did hear the voice, it was just wishful thinking. And she wouldn’t play into it.

Her loneliness was what drew her to Neal. He understood her. He didn’t pressure her to go back to the system. He was just with her. And it was fun. The voice was practically silent now, it was easy for her to ignore it. To focus on her life with Neal Cassidy.

She enjoyed the months she spent with him, falling into an almost domestic bliss. They made plans to run away together. To give up their life of crime and get honest work. Emma was thrilled. Then the day before they were going to fence the watches, the day before they were going to move on together, a crack appeared.

Emma was humming absentmindedly while packing their stuff into the back of the yellow bug. She didn’t think humming counted as singing, no danger of it transmitting to the mystery man. Not that he was real. She heard Neal come up behind her and expected some sort of physical affection. He usually would wrap his arms around her or give her a kiss on the cheek. But this time, nothing came. Emma stopped humming and turned to face him. His eyes were wide with shock and his face was drained of color.

“Where did you hear that song?” he almost whispered.

“What song?” Emma was confused. She hadn’t been singing, she didn’t do that anymore. She racked her brain trying to figure out what she was humming but she hadn’t been paying attention.

“That lullaby.” Neal looked almost angry as he stared at her.

“Lullaby?” she realized she must have been humming the song that she heard every year on her birthday. “Oh sorry, I didn’t realize what I was humming.”

“Where did you hear is?”

“Neal? What’s wrong?”

“Where did you hear it Emma!” His voice was shaking with anger and he looked almost scared.

“I’ve always know it, what’s this about? It’s just a song.”

“Who sang it to you?”

“I don’t know, I’ve just always known it!” She wasn’t about to tell him about the man in her head, she didn’t need him thinking she was crazy.

“Fine.” Neal turned away from her, obviously dissatisfied. “Let’s go.”

Emma followed, confused about why he was so upset with her. It was just a song. He didn’t talk to her for the rest of the day. When they found a motel room for the night she decided to just tell him about the voice. It was better than have him ignore her. So once the lights were off and they were in bed, she worked up her courage.

“Hey, Neal?” she spoke softly. He didn’t reply but she heard him shift beneath the sheets to face her. “I want to tell you something.”

Emma could see the light reflecting off of his eyes. He stayed silent. She took a deep breathe to steady herself before continuing.

“I know this is going to sound crazy, and it probably is but you have a right to know. Now I realize that this isn’t going to make any sense but here it goes.” Neal was still staring at her, unmoving. “That song from earlier today, I’ve known it for as long as I can remember. I probably just heard it somewhere as a child, that’s the only thing that makes sense. But, well, when I was little I had this imaginary friend who would sing to me.” She noticed the Neal stiffened at this but she kept going. Emma knew it was weird but she needed to tell someone about him. The mystery man. And maybe Neal would believe her.

“Every year on my birthday they would sing me the same song, that lullaby I was humming earlier today. I know it must have just been my imagination but when I was a kid they would always be singing to me. I probably made them up so I would have a friend when I kept getting shuffled around to different homes.”

“Do you still hear them?” Emma jumped a little when Neal spoke, she hadn’t expected him to respond.

“Yeah, sometimes,” she admitted. “It’s not like every day or even every month or anything. But yeah, I do still hear them sometimes. I know it’s weird.”

Neal didn’t speak again, he just looked at her. She could feel the tension in the room but had no idea what to do to fix it. Eventually, she just fell asleep. Neal was gone when she woke up. On his place in the bed was a note saying he would meet her later and giving her a drop location for the watches.

She almost wasn’t surprised when the cops turned up at the spot she was supposed to meet Neal. Her story had scared him off. What did surprise her were the two pink lines on the pregnancy test they’d had her taken in the prison. She was not ready to be a mother.

Despite all of that, as her stomach grew she found herself singing again. It calmed her to give music to this baby she would never hold. Sometimes she would sing popular music, sometimes silly things she made up, but she always came back to the lullaby. It had given her so much comfort through her life that it just felt right to sing it now.

There was never anyone singing back. It helped her convince herself that it had always just been a part of her imagination. Just a childhood wish for a friend. A wish that she’d grown too attached to.

She gave birth and refused to even look at the child that had come out of her. She didn’t need the desire to keep it on top of everything else. She heard the cries. She continued looking away as they got softer and softer. And then nothing. It was gone. And she cried. Singing the lullaby through her tears.

This time there was a response. A deep voice joining her and quietly singing along with her. The voice was back. She was too emotionally drained to care.

////

It was Emma’s 28th birthday. She’d moved on with her life. She had a job, an apartment, and she never sang. Her mind was filled only with her. There hadn’t been songs in years. Even the lullabies on her birthday had stopped. And she was in no way disappointed. At all. It was just her imagination after all. She pretended her ears weren’t straining for the hint of the accented voice that had kept her company as a child. He wasn’t real. She blew out the candle on her cupcake. This was her life. No one wanted to be around Emma Swan.

Then came a knock at her door. She opened it to discover a child. Her child. And to top everything off, the voice she hadn’t heard in near a decade started to sing again.


	2. The Ballad of Killian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks for taking a chance on this work!!! I got a lot of inspiration from the musical episode tonight so it hopefully won't be long until I can update again!!!  
> After this chapter I'm changing the writing a bit and will be switching perspectives between our two soulmates while they start on the long journey to finding love. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!!!!

Killian Jones had always sung. Ever since he was a child, he would sing no matter what he was doing. Most of the time is was just silly songs he sang to himself while he steered the ship, plotted a course, or any other of his solo tasks. Sometimes, mostly when he’d had too much rum, he’d sing with his crew. They would yell out the bawdiest sailors’ songs they could think of whenever they made landfall at a tavern. But one day a year he sang none of these. One day a year was devoted to the lullaby Milah had sung whenever he was down. It was the best thing he could do to honor her memory on the anniversary of her death.

Even though his real crew had been swept up by the curse, it hadn’t taken long for Killian to find willing replacements. This crew had long accepted the fact that their Captain would sing. They knew better than to comment on it.

After Milah’s death he hadn’t been very musical for a few decades. Not that Neverland lent itself to nurturing a musical soul. When they’d finally left Pan’s clutches, Hook had gone almost immediately to working for Regina and then Cora. Neither of them were fond of him singing either. But he’d gotten away from them, back to his ship. His revenge wasn’t worth 28 years of his life being stolen by Cora. So he’d gotten a new crew and outrun the curse. And the singing came back for the years they spent on the seas.

Three years after the curse was the first time Killian heard someone sing back to him. It started as a normal day. He was just steering the Jolly toward a new port, singing an adventure song to himself while he went. Then he heard a child’s voice singing a strange song about waiting for a prince. Killian’s voice wobbled in surprise before he stopped completely and looked around his ship. Where was the voice coming from? He looked high and low for the source of the singing but found no one. He was forced to admit that it was coming from between his very own ears.

Killian knew what it meant. Soulmates. He’d heard tales of people who could always hear their soulmate singing, no matter how much distance was between them. It was so rare that he’d never really given it much thought. Until now. Until he heard this child’s voice singing silly songs about whistling while working.

Even after the voice stopped, Killian didn’t resume singing. It was always something he did for himself, something private, but this girl could hear him. His soulmate. Who sounded like she was a young child. And must have heard the tavern songs he sang with his men! Those were not meant for children’s ears! He could feel a blush spreading across his cheeks as he thought about the bawdy music in his crew’s repertoire.

Killian didn’t tell a soul about his discovery and his crew knew better than to question his lack of singing. He spent a week trying to wrap his head around his new discovery. He’d never thought he’d be given a soulmate. He never expected to get over Milah. He didn’t know what to do. But he did know he wasn’t ready to give up on his revenge.

Hook knew that he wouldn’t look much older by the time the curse broke. It took a long time for Neverland’s anti-aging magic to wear off. Especially since he’d been there for nearly two centuries. He was glad, it meant that when he sunk his hook into the Crocodile, he would recognize him. The Dark One would know who had bested him.

Chances were that he’d never even meet this child anyway. He didn’t really know how soulmates worked, but he didn’t find himself in the company of many children. He’d probably die in his quest to kill the Dark One by the time she was of age. So he’d ignore it.

That night, the Jolly made port. As always, that mean the crew spent an ungodly amount of money on rum and women in the nearest tavern. Killian didn’t join in their songs at first. Even though he’d decided to ignore her, she was still a child and did not need to hear what they were singing. But eventually the rum overcame him and he joined his crew in their crude song about a governor’s daughter.

////

The next three years of Killian Jones’ life were fairly uneventful. His crew kept sailing around in search of adventure. Biding time until the curse broke and he’d be able to reach the Dark One. The girl started to sing to him too. Mostly silly nonsense songs, she was a young child after all, but they often brought a smile to his face. Killian resumed singing too. He tried to resist joining in with his men, caving only when he had too much rum. But after a few months he’d gotten used to the voice in his head and he resumed singing while he worked.

Killian still sang the lullaby every year on the day of Milah’s death. It felt a bit odd the first time, knowing that someone else could hear him in his grief, but he would not let that stop him from honoring her memory. It was even more important now that he had a supposed soulmate, he couldn’t let the year go without letting Milah know what she still meant to him. That the universe matching him with some child didn’t mean he’d forgotten her.  

At some point he realized the lass was able to tell his moods by his songs. Whenever he was sad or lonely she’d sing him a sweet tune to cheer him up. For one so young, she was able to pick up on emotional changes with ease. Killian found himself appreciating her. Someone he’d never met was helping him through. He knew he didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve her. He was never going to be her happy ending.

The peace of the three years stopped abruptly the day the Jolly returned to what was left of the enchanted forest. He hadn’t meant to return, they’d gotten blown off course during a storm and ended up where he least wanted to be. And then Cora had found them. Before Killian could say anything his crew was whisked away.

“What did you do to them?” He growled at the woman he’d long since left.

“Sent them to where they belong.” She laughed.

“What the bloody hell does that mean?”

“They’re back where they were before you picked them up.”

“Why?”

“Why Captain?” she raised her eyebrows in mock surprise, “well because you promised me assistance, then left.”

“I told you I’d be back when the curse was broken.”

“And deprive me of company for 28 long years?”

“Your loneliness was a cross I was willing to bear.” Killian smirked at Cora and she narrowed her eyes in response.

“I’m not risking getting you killed before you’ve exhausted your usefulness to me.”

“Haven’t you heard, love? I’m a survivor.”

“Not for long if you stay on my bad side.”

They continued their banter for near an hour before Hook resigned himself to his fate. He was stuck with Cora. He knew if he tried to flee again she’d rip out his heart before he had his shot at revenge. So he stayed in what was left in the Enchanted Forest. Being practically her errand boy.

During that first year, Killian didn’t sing. He just didn’t feel particularly musical with Cora breathing down his neck. He still heard the girl’s voice in his head. Nearly every day she sang something and he wished she’d just stop. He didn’t feel like he deserved a soulmate, whoever she was. It was just a distraction from his revenge. And he didn’t want Cora finding out about her. It was something she could use as leverage over him. Even if he didn’t know this girl, he refused to be responsible for harm.

On the anniversary of Milah’s death, Killian found solitude, away from Cora’s prying ears. And he sang Milah’s lullaby for hours. Milah wouldn’t want him to ignore this girl, Milah would have wanted him to be there for her. She seemed lonely, always singing softly to herself instead of with others. And he’d gone and abandoned her. He tried to put his apology into the song. To let her know how sorry he was that he’d left her, how sorry he was that she got him as a soulmate, and how sorry he was that he would be leaving her again. She joined him in song after the sun had gone down, and for a little while their voices were joined. For a little while they were supporting each other. But the next morning dawned and Killian went right back to focusing on his revenge.

////

Over the next decade, Killian never got back into singing like he had. Occasionally he would distract himself with a little tune, and he always sang Milah’s lullaby at least once on her day, but for the most part he was quiet. And over time, the voice in his head stopped singing back.

Then, one day, everything changed. The voice started up again. There was a nearly constant stream of songs in his head for months. And the voice wasn’t a girl anymore. She still sounded young, but no longer a child. There was a new sort of sadness in her tone. Killian knew that something or someone had hurt her. But he still never responded. The past decade had solidified his resolve that he didn’t need a soulmate to distract him. What he needed was his revenge.

So he ignored the unfamiliar tunes that drifted through his skull. He ignored the obviously made up songs he heard every day. He even ignored the familiar lullaby that this woman sang nearly constantly. He wouldn’t give in to this. He was alone. He was always alone. He had to remember that this girl wasn’t really there. That she didn’t care about him or if he responded. That she would hate him if she knew what he’d done. What he was going to do. So he stayed strong and he stayed silent.

Until one day it was too much for him to take. She was singing the lullaby with a broken heart. He could hear the tears in her voice. Every word conveyed her pain. Killian was overwhelmed with the need to do something. Anything. Whatever he could to help her. So he did the only thing possible. He sang back. And he kept singing until Cora found him.

“What on Earth are you doing?” Killian stopped abruptly when he heard Cora’s voice.

“It’s none of your business.”

“Were you singing?” Cora sneered.

“Like I said, love, what I do with my time is none of your bloody business.”

“Why Captain, did you forget that I’m the one graciously allowing you to get your revenge? That I’m being kind enough to keep you from aging until the curse is broken? Everything you do while you’re working for me is my business. So I ask again, were you singing?”

“You obviously heard me, why even bother asking,” Hook’s voice was a barely restrained snarl at this point. He didn’t need it rubbed in his face that his life wasn’t his own. That he couldn’t even comfort the lass without being chided.

“But who were you singing to, Captain, now that’s the question.”

“Myself, as you can clearly see, there’s no one else here.” He gestured his hook in a wide arc around the empty clearing he’d been sitting in.

“But that doesn’t mean that nobody could hear now does it?” Hook flinched, she was insinuating soulmates. Somehow she knew, or at least had guessed that he had one.

“I was singing to myself.” He added a tone of finality to his voice before making to leave the clearing.

“Whatever you say, Captain, just don’t let yourself get distracted from our mission.”

“All I care about is getting revenge on the bloody crocodile,” with that he turned his back on Cora and left the clearing. He knew that no matter what, he had to stop singing. If Cora ever thought he cared about the girl in his head, she would somehow twist it against him. Use this mystery woman as a weapon. And even though Killian had never met the lass, even though he was never planning on meeting her, he still didn’t want to cause her any pain.

////

Hook spent the next decade in silence. He didn’t sing to her and she didn’t sing to him. No contact. And he told himself that it was better this way. Not everyone had a soulmate and they still found love. She could move on with her life without him. He would only cause her pain.

Killian didn’t even hum. He wasn’t sure if that would even count as singing for the soulmate link but he wouldn’t risk it. There could be no attachment between them. Attachments were weaknesses that could be exploited by his enemies.

He kept running errands for Cora during that time. Helping her prepare for when the curse was broken. They knew that some other Enchanted Forest inhabitants had escaped the curse, shielded by Cora’s spell. They were protected even from aging by her magic.

 Cora decided that infiltrating them was their best plan. So 28 years to the day after the curse was enacted he found himself posing as a blacksmith and finding their safe haven. He was accepted easily enough. Despite the fact that it had been 28 years, people were still occasionally wandering in looking for safety from the ogres. And having a useful skill, metal working, made him all the more valuable to them. Meaning they didn’t question his motives as thoroughly as they might have otherwise.

They gave him food, lodging, companionship, and a place away from Cora’s watchful stare. And when he retreated for the night, he had solitude. He had time to realize that it was the anniversary of Milah’s death and, beyond that, he was free to sing for the first time in a very long time. To grieve as he hadn’t in over a decade. So he sang. He let the lullaby quietly drift through his new quarters. He let the sounds waft through his head and to his soulmate. He let himself put all his emotional turmoil into his song. There was still work to be done, he still needed to get his revenge, but for this night, he would remember what he had lost. And he would let his soulmate know, even if they would never be together, he was still there.


	3. Enchanted to Meet You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the wait for this, I just wrote 3 papers in 3 days and am currently on the cusp of death from sleep deprivation :P   
> This chapter marks the start of the actual plot. For now I'm sticking close to the canon of season 2 but this will get more canon divergent as we go. I have included a lot of actual dialogue from the show to help ground this, I don't know about you but I barely remember the second season.
> 
> Anyway, Hope you enjoy!!!!!

_‘Really?’_ It was the only thought going through Emma’s mind as she and Mary Margret fell through the portal. She’d just saved the town. Just learned that her parents had never wanted to give her up. And instead of getting even a moment of down time, another crisis had popped up and lead to her falling through a whirling vortex to who knows where. And when the portal ended, when they finally hit solid earth again, everything went black.

Emma woke up to discover that they were in the remains of the Enchanted Forest. She’d had almost no time to come to terms with her family tree, with the fact that magic and other worlds existed. And now here she was, trying to convince Sleeping Beauty and Mulan (because apparently they knew each other) that they weren’t a threat. It didn’t help that Mary Margret would. Not. Stop. Singing. Emma knew that she was Snow White and all, but that woman would not give her vocal chords, or Emma’s ears, a break. It was bad enough that they were tied behind Mulan’s freaking horse, she did not need to listen to Mary Margret trying to sing and not fall on her face at the same time.

“What are you doing?” Emma was exasperated as she looked over at the woman who was apparently her mother. Yeah, that was going to take some getting used to.

“I’m letting your father know that we’re okay,” Mary Margret only stopped singing for long enough to whisper those words, quickly resuming the melody.

“What? How is singing helping?”

“Because he’s my true love,” Mary Margret gave her a confused look as she spoke, “no matter how far apart we are, one can always hear their soulmate’s songs.” She shot Emma a look like this should be obvious to her.

“That’s not a thing where I come from.”

“You come from here, Emma.”

“You know what I mean, in the real world… I mean the land without magic,” Emma forcefully corrected herself. This world wasn’t exactly fake, she had to get used to it at some point. “No one has a soulmate there. At least not that I’ve heard of.”

“Oh Emma,” there was sorrow and regret written clearly over Mary Margret’s features.

“It’s fine,” Emma cut her off, not really ready to face the emotional baggage that would come out with her mother’s emotions. “Just tell me how it works, does everyone have a soulmate?”

“No, they’re pretty rare. But if you do have a soulmate you usually learn about them early on in life. Whenever one of you is singing, the other can hear it in their mind.” Emma froze. Hearing songs in your mind? That was a thing here? Did that mean she… There was a tug on her wrists. The rope dug into her tender flesh as Mulan’s horse kept walking forward. Emma shook herself out of her daze and kept walking. She could dwell on this later.

“Emma, are you okay?” The concern was back in Mary Margret’s voice, her unusual reaction had been noted.

“It’s nothing,” she wasn’t ready to confide in her about the voice yet, “I’m just surprised at how this world works.” She could tell Mary Margret didn’t really believe her but was glad when she didn’t push the subject further. She just resumed singing to David to let him know that they were okay.

Emma was glad that she was distracted, it gave her time to think. She could just tell Mary Margret about the voice. Apparently it was her soulmate. But she wasn’t quite ready to share quite yet. There were very few people in her life that she’d told, and it had never gone well. She was used to the voice being just hers. Something that she didn’t have to share with anyone else. And then there was the fact that Mary Margret would get really overly excited about it. Emma knew she didn’t want to deal with that. There was too much going on in her life right now for her to worry about ‘True Love’ or soulmates. Mary Margret would want her to find the man that went with the voice and she wasn’t ready for that just yet.

He’d been barely there for years anyway. In fact, she hadn’t heard a peep from him since her birthday. For all she knew he already had someone to love, or maybe he was dead. She told herself that she didn’t care either way.

////

Killian could feel the moment that the curse broke. He wasn’t quite sure how, no one else seemed to notice. Well other than Cora, of course. She’d been practically glowing with excitement when she gave him the news. It meant that her plan was finally getting enacted, she would get her daughter and he would get his revenge. Then they learned of a group of travelers who had come over from Storybrooke, and he was instructed to join them. To learn their secrets.  He didn’t realize that this plan entailed Cora killing the entire population of the Safe Haven until it was too late. They were all dead and he’d been powerless to stop her.

He was no stranger to death. He’d killed his share during his centuries on the high seas. But he wasn’t one for unnecessary slaughter. Especially of these innocent souls who had taken him in. Who had given him shelter and companionship when they thought him alone in the world. But he didn’t have time to mourn. He couldn’t question Cora, not if he wanted his revenge. So he hid under the bodies of those that could have become his friends, and he waited to be found.

He got into character when he finally heard voices nearing him. He remembered how cowardly Rumpelstiltskin had been that first time on his ship and prepared himself to act just as meek. He listened to their conversation for a few moments before making his move. Cora had given him sparse knowledge about the group and he wanted to know what he would be facing.

They realize the damage wasn’t done by an ogre rather quickly, they were sharp. He’d have to be wary of that, else be caught in his lies. He knew there were four of them, Cora had given him that much at least, and they all sounded like women. He could work with that. His dashing good looks had earned him the trust of many a woman before, and the years had been kind to him. Killian began to move then, knowing if he stayed hidden much longer he would lose their trust before he even had a chance to gain it.

“Hey! Hey look!” A voice called out from somewhere near him.

“There’s someone under there!” A second voice joined and he felt the bodies being moved from on top of him.

“Please! Please help me!” Killian cried out, forcing his features into a distressed state while he scanned his ‘rescuers’. He was surprised to find he knew one of them, a woman named Mulan that he’d oft seen around the camp. The others were unfamiliar, and two wore clothing that was drastically different from any style he’d encountered before.

“You’re safe now, we won’t hurt you.” The voice came from one of the women in unfamiliar dress. She had black hair that was cut even shorter than his and a sweet voice.

“Thank you.” He looked at her for a moment before his attention was drawn to the other strangely clad woman. The one with long blonde locks that tumbled down her back. She was silent as her eyes flicked between him and the dark haired woman. But Killian could not look away from her.

“Thank you,” he breathed again as he stared at her, his voice soft even to his own ears. There was something about her that was drawing him in. Her expression was guarded and something flashed as she met his eyes. Then he blinked and the connection was broken.

////

“An island full of corpses. You’re the only one to escape. How exactly did that happen?” It was the blonde woman speaking, he thought her name was Emma. He could tell from the way she was looking at him that she didn’t trust him. He stared into her eyes while he told her his story. Pushing his voice to have a waiver, to make it sound like he was near tears. He glanced at the others while he talked, but mostly stayed focused on Emma. She was the one he needed to convince.

“I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” she leaned closer to him, not breaking eye contact as she did so. “I’m pretty good at telling when people are lying to me.”

“I’m telling you the truth.” He pushed as much sincerity into those words as he could, willing her to believe him as he stared into her green eyes. He almost regretted lying to her. He almost wanted to tell her what was really going on. But want was not enough to betray Cora. Emma didn’t respond to his words, she just gave him a small smile and moved away.

////

Emma was hurt that he was lying to her. She didn’t know why. She had no reason to be upset that he wasn’t telling the truth. But she was. There was something about this man that made her want to trust him and made her feel betrayed when he lied.

She would admit that she may have overacted a bit. Putting a knife to his throat? Valid response. Tying him to a tree and calling the ogres? That might have been a bit much. But she was upset, he was lying, and she really needed some answers. So she ignored the part of her telling her she was this upset because it was _him_ that was lying. She buried that argument deep down inside, convincing herself that she just didn’t like when people didn’t tell the truth. It had nothing to do with the unnatural pull she felt towards this man.

And then she found out that he was Captain Freaking Hook. Because of course he was. And she was tempted to leave him tied to the tree for the ogres. But he claimed to have a way to help her get back to Henry. And that was the only reason she let him go. It wasn’t because she felt something when he stared her down. It wasn’t the way that he had shown almost no fear even when facing almost certain death. It was only to help her son.

////

Hook hadn’t expected to get tied to a tree. His cover story had been good, but Swan had been better. She had somehow seen right through him and refused to put up with his bullshit. It wasn’t like he really wanted to lie to her, so he came clean. He told her about Cora and the plan to get back, even about the crocodile that took his hand. He half expected her still to kill him, or at least leave him to die. At least if he died he would get a respite from the short haired woman’s incessant singing.

Killian could tell just by looking at Emma that she wasn’t one to easily put her trust in someone. But when he’d told her of his revenge he saw understanding in her eyes and suddenly he was free from his bounds. He knew he hadn’t won her full trust, but he wasn’t going to be eaten by ogres and that was good enough for now.

He noticed the way her eyes raked over him when he took off his oversized cloak to reveal his favored tight leather beneath. She was unnerving, so he flirted with the whole group vigorously to calm his nerves. To hide any sincerity he felt about helping them. When they asked why he would assist them, he made up an answer about them being safer companions. In truth, he didn’t really know why he was risking Cora’s wrath. But he suspected it had something to do with the blonde.

He listened to them bicker over who would accompany him up the bean stalk. But all argument ceased the moment the blonde spoke. He was glad to see that she had that effect on everyone, not just him. He was being honest when he told her that he was hoping it would be her that joined him. The short haired woman would have driven him insane with her singing, the brown haired one didn’t seem like she’d be of any good in a fight, and he was fairly certain the armored woman will kill him halfway up the stalk. And then there was the fact that he would get to spend hours alone with this intriguing woman. Oh yes, he was glad that it was her.

Killian attempted to talk to her as they started to climb the beanstalk, but she seemed content to ascend in silence. They’d gone hundreds of feet like this but he couldn’t stop talking. Every time he did he heard that sickly sweet voice of the short haired woman. He didn’t know how her voice carried this far but he couldn’t get away from it.

“I’ve a question for you, love.” He ignored the way she glared down at him from her position a few feet above him.

“What now?”

“Why the bloody hell does that woman not stop singing?

“She says she’s letting,” she paused for a moment, searching for a word before settling on, “David know that we’re okay.”

“Soulmate?”

“Apparently.” She rolled her eyes at this like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world.

“And where is this David?”

“Back in Storybrooke.”

“Soulmate bonds exists there?” He was surprised, he’d always heard it was the land without magic. And he didn’t think that soulmate bonds could cross realms.

“They’re from here, originally. No one in my world has one.” There was a bitter note to her voice. She seemed upset about this lack of bond.

“Jealous, love?”

“Of my parents?” That was a new one. Parents? The woman looked her age. But he supposed he also looked her age so it shouldn’t be too surprising. “Without their soulmate bond I wouldn’t be here.”

“Ah, I’m winning you over already.” He sent her his most charming grin. One that only got wider when he noticed the glare she sent back his way. She turned back to the beanstalk and continued to climb. He knew there was more to the soulmate thing but he let it drop for now. Pushing her too hard would not get him anything. He let them climb in silence for a few hundred more feet before he spoke again.

“You know, most men would take your silence as off putting, but I love a challenge.”

“I’m concentrating.”

“No, you’re afraid. Afraid to talk, to reveal yourself. But trust me,” he looked her dead in the eyes, “things will be a lot smoother if you do.”

“You’re used to people not trusting you.” Killian knew a deflection when he heard one. He was on to something.

“Well, I don’t need you to share, you’re something of an open book.”

“Am I?” He could tell that she didn’t believe him. She seemed to think that her walls kept anyone from knowing her.

“Quite.” He noticed her eyes widen when he went on to talk about how she was abandoned. He knew the look of an orphan, no matter what realm they were from. Then she looked directly into his eyes and proclaimed that she’d never had love. He didn’t buy it. There was something that flickered in their depths when she spoke. Pain that he would recognize anywhere.

////

She was glad Hook had stopped trying to talk to her halfway up the beanstalk. She was confused enough about him when all he did was make innuendos, she didn’t need his sincerity too. There was something intriguing about him. But she didn’t have time for another mystery, she just needed to get back to Storybrooke. She’d already abandoned Henry once and she would not do it again. So she would keep her distance from Hook, get the compass, and be done with it.

Her resolve was tested when they reached the top of the beanstalk. When he grabbed her wrist with his hook and pulled her closer she felt her heart pounding. She should have pushed him away immediately. But she didn’t. There was too much honesty in his face when he told her he wanted to fix her hand. So she did what she could and deflected.

“So now you’re going to be a gentleman?”

“Giants can smell blood,” his voice was a soft whisper and she could feel his breath on her skin as he spoke. “And I’m always a gentleman.” She rolled her eyes but didn’t move away. He wanted to help? Then fine. She’d let him help. And then he wrapped the cut in his own scarf. He told her the plan for defeating the giant as he did so. His voice low as he focused on wrapping her wound. She could not look away. And then he made eye contact with her as he tightened the knot with his teeth. Holy hell she could feel her heart racing. It should be illegal to be that attractive.

“And then?” she heard a waver in her voice as she spoke. His actions had thrown her way off balance.

“And then we run like hell.” He somehow made this sound like the most pleasurable thing on the planet. His voice was low, he wasn’t breaking eye contact, and she could feel his hand on hers as he finished with binding her wound. Every touch sent electricity straight to her heart.

He stayed close to her as they discussed their plan. He was closer than she would usually let someone be. But she couldn’t step away. He had his own gravitational pull.

“You’re a tough lass, you’d make a hell of a pirate.” There was nothing demeaning about his words. They weren’t laced with innuendo either. It was an honest to god compliment. This was bad. They were bonding. So she took a stab in the dark at what could drive him away. She asked about the tattoo on his wrist. That shut him down. And she swore to herself that she wasn’t disappointed in the slightest when that caused him to walk away from her.

Then there was their fight with the giant. Hook could have hidden when they realized the flaws in their plan. He could have run away and left her to try without him. But he didn’t. He drew the giant’s ire so that she could knock him out with the poppy powder. And then when she couldn’t immediately find him afterwards she felt a pain in her chest. She could hear desperation in her voice when she called out his name. Then she was flooded with relief when he turned up unharmed. She told herself that her relief was only because he would help her search for the compass. But after the way he’d looked at her and the bravery he’d shown in the fight, even she wasn’t convinced.

It really didn’t help when he almost trigged a trap and the only way she could think of stopping him was by pulling him into an embrace. She could have just grabbed his hand, or his hook, or even just yelled at him to stop. But no, she had to pull him into her arms. And his arms came up to encircle her back.

“It’s about bloody time,” she heard him growl as his mouth moved down towards hers. The cockiness in his words was the only thing that made her remember herself. The only thing that let her push out of his arms. Her heart was racing and she was fighting down a blush when she pointed out the trap in front of them.

“That’s a plausible excuse for grabbing me, but next time don’t stand on ceremony.” His gaze was boring into her skull as he spoke. His hand moved up to stroke a lock of her hair. He was pulling her back in and this needed to stop.

“Let’s find the compass and go home.” Her voice sounded breathless even to her and she could see in his face that he noticed. But he let her have her way and moved on. She stayed still for a moment to collect her wits. She’d just met him and he was already having an intense effect on her.

While she was trying to regulate her breathing, the voice in her head started up. Of all the times to come back, it just had to choose now. She was going to ignore it until she realized that it wasn’t just coming from inside her head. The song was also coming from in front of her. Where Hook was picking through treasure. Where Hook was singing.

_‘Oh bloody fuck,’_ was the most sensical thought she could push through her mind. Hook was the voice in her mind. That meant that he was her… nope. That wasn’t how this was going to work. She was saved from that awkward line of thought when the floor started to shake and the singing stopped abruptly.

“Quickly, get under something!” Emma hadn’t even noticed Hook coming over to her but now he was tugging on her hand to get her to hide. She wanted to resist. She pulled her hand away, she didn’t want him to touch her. He’d fucking left her. For decades! He looked back at her in confusion, not noticing the unstable rocks above his head. And then they fell, he was buried under them. She’d distracted him from too long for him to have a chance to escape.

“Hook!” she was shocked. She may be mad at him but she didn’t actually want him to die.

The giant didn’t leave her time to dwell on the fact that the man that was somehow her soulmate might very well be a pancake. So she turned her attention to the fight before her. She could think about Hook later when her life wasn’t in immediate peril.

Somehow, despite the fact that her mind was all over the place with confusion, she won. She beat the giant without spilling any blood. As he ambled back down the hall from which he’d come, Emma examined the compass in her hands. This seemingly normal object would apparently get her and Mary Margret back to Storybrooke. But what about Hook?

“You there love?” his voice was muffled from beneath the rocks, but he was defiantly alive. She felt a wave of relief come over her at that.

“Yes.” She walked over to where he’d been buried. Even if she didn’t know what to think about him she wasn’t going to risk him getting crushed to death beneath the boulders.

“Is the giant still there?”

“No”

“Then a little assistance?”

“Give me a minute.” Emma thrust the compass into her pocket and took a deep breath. She wasn’t ready to face him yet. She’d convinced Anton to hold Hook here for 10 hours but she knew her resolve would weaken the moment she saw his face. Her heart twisted when she pulled him out. He was laughing, happy, complementing her.

“Come, let us go.” Hook held out his hand to her. He looked earnestly into her eyes with a smile on his lips. She put her hand into his for a moment, almost deciding to take him with her. But she couldn’t. She grabbed the cuff and threw it around his wrist. Trapping him there.

“What are you doing?” His voice wavered. Beneath the confusion she could hear that he sounded betrayed. More than that, he sounded hurt.

“Hook,” she refused to look him in the eyes, “I… I can’t…”

“Emma, look at me.” She glanced into his face. Her heart broke a little as she took in his earnest expression. “Have I told you a lie? I brought you here. I risked my own safety to help you. The compass is in your hand, why do this to me now?”

“I can’t take a chance that I’m wrong about you.” She held back the tears that were threatening to come out over what she didn’t say. That she knew he’d leave the moment things got tough like he had before. That she would come to rely on him when she knew she could only trust herself. He’d been her only constant all those years ago, she’d thought that he would never abandon her. That he could be the one person she could count on. And then it had turned out that he was like all the others. Without even meeting her he’d decided she wasn’t worth it and left her on her own.

 “I’m sorry.” She turned away from him and rushed out of the room, leaving him to yell after her. She knew if she turned back again he would get her to relent, to trust him. She couldn’t risk it.

When she was on her way back down the beanstalk she gave him what comfort she could. She sang to him. She sang the lullaby that had always brought her comfort and hoped it would help him too. Even if she couldn’t trust him enough to bring him with, even though he’d left her all those years ago, there had been a time where he’d been there for her. So in honor of that, in honor of what he’d meant to her as a lonely child, she sang.


	4. You're not sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I am using Taylor Swift song titles for my chapter titles :)
> 
> Anyway, this chapter got angsty on me so be prepared! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!!!!

Hook was seething. She’d bloody used him. He’d risked his life to help her and she’d left him chained up in the giant’s lair. And if that wasn’t bad enough, his soulmate had to choose that exact moment to start singing again. But she couldn’t sing just anything, no, she had to bloody choose to sing Milah’s lullaby. Usually that song gave him some measure of comfort, but now it just reminded him of loss and betrayal.

Killian felt as if he’d betrayed Milah’s memory by helping Emma. He knew that she would stand in the way of his revenge. That his best bet for avenging Milah would be to make sure that Swan was trapped in this realm. But in spite of all of that, he’d still helped her. He’d even started to trust her. And she’d betrayed him. Bad form really. Betraying the man risking his own life to help you return home to your family. But she’d made her choice, and in doing so, made his. It was time for him to reconcile with Cora. He would use her to get to Storybrooke, and maybe get some payback on Emma along the way.

It hadn’t taken him long to escape from the cuff. He was a pirate after all. It did, however, take him longer than he wanted to get back down the beanstalk. And before he’d even had the opportunity to leave he had to evade the giant. The only good thing to come of their game of cat and mouse was that he found a shriveled up magic bean amongst the treasure.

He then realized that descending would be difficult and slow. He was battered and bruised from the falling rocks earlier. Another wrong he could attribute to Emma. If he hadn’t been so distracted trying to save her, he could have avoided nearly getting crushed to death.

When Hook was halfway down the beanstalk, the sky opened up and dumped a torrential downpour on his head. Then the winds picked up and it was all he could do to hold on for dear life. It was nearly an hour before he felt safe enough to continue moving. He was shivering by the time he finally hit the ground. But before he could really appreciate it, he heard Cora’s voice from behind him. Killian had been hoping he’d be able to regain the compass before their reunion but of course fate was never that kind to him.

He tried to convince Cora that he’d done all of it for her, tried to get back into her good graces, but he could tell he was failing. She didn’t believe him.

“You chose her, and the consequences of that decision.”

Cora’s words were truer than he would have liked. He had chosen to help Emma Swan. He’d offered to help her over getting his own revenge. And now his chance to get back at the crocodile might be gone forever. Cora would leave him here with no way to avenge Milah. All because he’d gotten distracted over a pretty face.

He’d learned his lesson now. He couldn’t trust the Swan girl.

////

Emma felt terrible about leaving Hook up on the beanstalk. She hadn’t been thinking straight. First there had been the unexplained connection that she felt towards him. Her body had wanted to trust him, to believe him, and that had put her on edge. She wasn’t one to get comfortable with someone new quickly. And then she’d found out he was her soulmate. Apparently the person destined to be with her. He’d been the one keeping her company as a child. The one who had sung to her every birthday. The one she’d thought would never leave her. And the one whose abandonment had cut her the deepest.

It was even harder to deal with because Mary Margret kept singing. She knew that it was probably the only thing keeping her, and likely David, sane, but it was rubbing Emma the wrong way to keep having the idea of soulmates rubbed in her face constantly after she’d just betrayed hers.

“Emma,” it was Mary Margret, thankfully speaking instead of singing, “you’re making a face. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” Mary Margret made a face showing that she obviously wasn’t buying it. “It’s just this whole soulmates thing.”

“Emma! Do you have a…” Mary Margret was practically jumping with joy.

“No, not that,” she quickly cut in causing Mary Margret to visibly deflate, “I’m just trying to wrap my head around the whole idea.”

“If you have any questions about it I can try and answer them.”

“Could you just… tell me what you know about them?”

“Well, you already know that you hear them through song and that they’re fairly rare. The legends often say that soulmates are two halves of a whole, that they complete each other. Soulmate love is the truest form of love, it can break any curse.”

“Do only soulmates have True Love?”

“In a way. I’ve never heard of True Love’s kiss being done by non-soulmates unless it’s a parent child bond, like how you woke Henry. It doesn’t mean that non soulmate love is any less important though,” Mary Margret quickly added when she saw Emma’s face fall.

“Do all soulmates have True Love?” Hook’s face flashed through her mind. Not only were they connected by some magical musical bond but they were supposed to share a love so strong it could break any curse? Really? Her and the pirate?

“I’ve never heard of a soulmate pair that’s met that didn’t end up with True Love. Though not all of them have to test their love against a curse.” Well, Emma thought, she could be the exception to that rule. Her life tended to work like that anyway. It’s not like Hook was likely to give her another chance after she betrayed him. And that meant he wasn’t coming to Storybrooke. She would likely never see him again. There was a pang in her chest at the thought but she shot it down. She didn’t have time to be concerned about this soulmate nonsense. And her chance with Hook? Well that ship had sailed.

“What happens when they meet? Do they immediately know each other?”

“No, remember the story of me and your father? It took us a long time to realize that the voice we’d had in our head was each other. It wasn’t until he caught me singing while fixing my arrows that we figured it out.”

“Do soulmates ever hate each other?”

“Maybe at first. You’re father and I defiantly were not fond of each other when we met. But eventually you realize that the bond is there for a reason. That you have more in common than you thought. Why are you so curious about it?”

“Oh no real reason. It’s just not something we had where I’m from so I just wanted to know more about it, I guess.”

That gave Emma a bit to think about. She’d almost forgotten how hard it was for her parents to get together. How many times they’d left each other before realizing that they couldn’t go without the other. She still wasn’t keen on the whole concept of soulmates, but maybe this meant she wasn’t a lost cause just yet. Maybe they could work it out? Even if he was a pirate, maybe the universe was on to something. They’d worked well together against the giant and he’d been able to understand her in a way that nobody had before.

It was lucky for the group that they had Mary Margret with them, she was able to use her soulmate connection with David to formulate a plan to get back to Storybrooke. As long as her mother was singing the words were carried through their soulmate bond. They had the compass, they just needed to steal the ashes from Cora and they would be able to return. And Rumpelstiltskin, through David, told them exactly how they could do that. They just needed to visit his old cell and find some squid ink. Everything seemed to be going their way. But everything changed when the undead attacked.

Mulan apparently hadn’t trusted them to protect Aurora from the villagers Cora had killed and zombified. She’d taken Aurora and tried to run away, but they hadn’t made it. Aurora was captured and Cora had given them until sundown to make a near impossible choice. The compass or Aurora’s life. If they gave in to her demands, they would likely never be able to go home. Emma would never see her father or son again. And Mary Margret would be forever separated from her soulmate once more. But they couldn’t just let Aurora die.

They were still trying to decide what to do when Mulan took the decision out of their hands. When they were distracted, she stole the compass and ran. Emma had never seen Mary Margret as vicious as she was when the caught up to Mulan. There was a very real possibility that the women would kill each other when suddenly Aurora herself came out to stop the fight. But what was even more surprising was what Aurora had to say. Hook had let her go. For her. Hook had helped Aurora escape Cora for Emma.

“Why would he do that?” She felt the regret rising in her chest, she’d betrayed him. She’d thought that she couldn’t trust him. That he was nothing but a pirate.

“He said he wanted to prove to you that you should have trusted him.” Aurora’s words cut her deep. He was her soulmate. For all her denying it, the universe fated them to be together and she’d rejected it. “That if you’d have trusted him you could have defeated Cora together. But without him, you’ll have to face her all by yourself. He only wants to help. I think he may care for you.”

Emma let Mary Margret fill Aurora in on their plan to defeat Cora, she had other things to think about. Hook had let Aurora go. He’d risked Cora’s wrath, and possibly even death to help them. And this was after she’d left him. After she’d gained his trust then left him trapped on top a beanstalk with only a giant for company.

Normally, she wouldn’t trust it. Normally she would think that this was just a trick to get back into her good graces. But Mary Margret’s optimism had rubbed off on her. Hook was her soulmate. And, after everything, she owed him a chance. Fate had linked them together for a reason, she needed to figure out why that was.

////

It hadn’t been difficult to get back into Cora’s good graces. He’d never used the charm Regina had put on his hook to allow him to take a heart so he was able to steal the princess’s while she slept. Cora seemed to find the beating organ a sufficient gift to allow him back into her service. He once again had a ride to revenge. And this time, he knew better than to let Emma bloody Swan ruin it for him.

He couldn’t look at her at first, when he and Cora trapped the group of women in Rumpelstiltskin’s old cell. The panic in her voice was almost enough to make him change sides again. Almost enough to convince him to help her. But she’d burned him once before and he knew better than to give her power over him again.

“You took her heart?” He heard Swan accuse Cora, venom dripping from her every word.

“Actually,” he cut in as he stepped forward into the light, “I did. It was a gift.” He didn’t feel any pleasure from the act now. Not when she was standing in front of him with hurt written all over her beautiful features. There was no satisfaction in this. But it was too late for him to turn back now. He didn’t look at her again as she yelled at Cora. He stayed silent and prepared to slink away. Somewhere he’d never have to see her, or the betrayal written clear on her face, again.

“Hook, wait,” she called out as he turned to leave. He should keep going. He should follow Cora out and never deal with that Swan girl again. But he couldn’t deny the pain in her voice so he turned to face her. “Please don’t do this. My son is in Storybrooke, he needs me.”

“Perhaps you should have considered that before you abandoned me on that beanstalk.” He stepped closer to her as he spoke, glaring at her all the way.

“I know, I know I shouldn’t have done it.” Her answer surprised him, as did the tears bunching at the corners of her eyes. “I let my fear get the best of me…” he wasn’t prepared for this. For an honest apology. For her to actually regret the harm she’d done him. He had to shut her up.

“You know what this is?” He pulled the shriveled magic bean he’d stolen from the giant out from under his clothing. She stopped talking and looked at him curiously. Just what he needed.

“It’s the bean that the giant kept.”

“This is more than that. This is a symbol. Something that was once full of magic, hope, possibilities. But now it’s dried up and dead. Useless. Much like you.” He could see the pain in her eyes from his every word. Good, he was pushing her away. He couldn’t have her distracting him anymore, not if he ever wanted his revenge. “The time for making deals is done, Swan. Much like I’m done with you.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. He didn’t need her to have another chance to convince him to help her. Not now. So he turned and walked out with Cora.

He tried to erase the image of her pained face from his mind as he followed Cora to the lake where they’d open the portal. He was so close to his revenge. He should be ecstatic. But he felt terrible. Swan had betrayed him yet insulting her still pained him. On some level, even though she’d left him to die, he’d still wanted to help her. He glanced down at the tattoo on his arm. Milah. That was the reason he was doing all of this. He couldn’t forget that anymore. Swan be damned, he needed his revenge. And to get as far away from her as possible.

////

Emma couldn’t speak after Hook and Cora left them. Mary Margret had tried to comfort her but Emma stayed silent. She knew if she opened her mouth the tears would come out. Then she’d have to explain why she was so upset over the words and actions of a pirate. Why she cared at all what he thought about her. So she pulled her legs into her chest, leaned against the rock wall, and let the others worry about how they were going to get home. She just didn’t have it in her at the moment.

She wished she hadn’t listened to Aurora. She should have known Hook wasn’t being genuine, that there was an ulterior motive to his actions. But she’d let her mother’s optimism convince her that somehow this would be different. That the soulmate bond somehow meant that Hook wouldn’t leave her. She should have known better. Everyone left her. And he’d left her before, it wasn’t like this was something new. Just because they’d met in person didn’t mean that anything would go differently. She had to remember that.

“Oh Emma,” Mary Margret squatted next to her, “we will find a way out of here and back to Storybrooke.” She knew she was trying to be comforting. That getting back to Henry was what she should be worried about. So she pulled an image of him up in her mind and focused. He needed his mother. Just because she was abandoned didn’t mean that she had to abandon him in return.

“We’re going to defeat them, good always triumphs over evil.” Mary Margret continued, ignoring Emma’s silence.

“You sound like Henry.”

“Well, optimism runs in the family.”

“I think it skipped a generation.” Emma frowned, willing her tears back. All optimism had gotten her was getting locked in a cage with no way back to her son. Mary Margret continued to try and cheer her up but Emma wasn’t having it.

“Look, the only reason I even broke the curse is because Gold wanted me to. I’m pretty much useless. All I’ve done is gotten us trapped here while Cora is out there on her way to Storybrooke!” She was harsher than needed, but she was sick of Mary Margret looking at her like she was the answer to everything.

“Didn’t your husband give any more clues about the location of the squid ink?” Mulan cut in saving Emma from any more awkward conversations with her mother.

“Just that it was in this cell.” The women started searching anew, leaving Emma alone with her thoughts while Mary Margret sang their questions to the other realm. She wanted to help. She really did. But she couldn’t find the energy to move. Not after what Hook had said. That she was dried up and useless.

The next thing she knew the bars of the cell were gone and the other women looked victorious.

“What happened?”

“He wrote a scroll in squid ink, we just had to blow it off the page to escape!” Mary Margret almost squealed with excitement as she tugged Emma up. “Now let’s go get back that compass and find our family.”

They arrived at the lake moments before Hook and Cora were going to leave. Emma’s emotions were running high at that point. She was glad that they weren’t too late. Hopeful that they would get back. Confused about seeing Hook again. But she didn’t have time to dwell on any of that, she needed to get the compass. And that meant engaging in a one on one duel with the man she couldn’t get out of her mind.

He was by far the better swordsman, he’d had an untold amount of time to practice while she’d only picked a sword up for the first time a week before. But he was holding back. As much as he claimed to hate her, she could tell that he wasn’t really trying to hurt her.

And then he risked his life to save Aurora’s heart. Cora had thrown it as a distraction and Hook nearly fell into the portal to save it from being lost forever. If he’d ignored it, his victory over Emma would have been assured. He’d made her lose her grip on the sword and she was laying at his mercy. But he’d chosen saving the heart over defeating her. Just another thing to add to the list of reasons he confused her.

“I had no idea you had such a soft side.” Emma commented as their duel began again.

“I don’t. I may be a pirate but I bristle at the thought of a woman losing her heart.” His voice was even as he spoke. Not betraying any evidence of exertion from their duel. He was playing with her. A fact made even more obvious when he easily threw her to the ground.

“Normally, I’d enjoy to do other, more enjoyable activities with a woman on her back.” He used his sword and hook to hold her weapon in place as he came closer to her. “But with my life on the line, you’ve left me no choice. Bit of advice, when I jab you with my sword, you’ll feel it. You might want to quit”

He was apparently back to flirting. She knew it was his safety net. Flirt when he wanted to hide or didn’t know how to feel.

 Having him so close to her again was making her heart race, but she knew better than to let that distract her again. Especially because she’d felt something under her when she’d landed. The compass. She reached under her and pulled it out while he was talking.

“Why would I do that when I’m winning?” She saw the confusion on his face when she displayed the compass. She used his momentary distraction to kick him off, quickly jumping to her feet. He tried to fight her again, but she punched him out before they could really get into it.

She looked down at his prone form for a minute, a part of her wanting to take him with, but she’d learned her lesson. Soulmate or not, she couldn’t trust this man. And she couldn’t bring someone back to Storybrooke who was planning to murder another citizen. She was still the sheriff after all. So she followed their original plan, ran to Mary Margret and they jumped through the portal together. Leaving Hook and Cora behind in the Enchanted Forest.

She stared at his form as long as she could as the portal sucked them away. She memorized everything she could knowing that this could very well be the last time she ever saw him. That she’d missed her chance to have him as her soulmate.


	5. Bad Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay with this chapter!! I just graduated college over the weekend and I've been trying to figure out what adulting even is
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!!!!!!!!

Hook was ready to be done with Emma bloody Swan. She was too confusing, and confusion was not what he needed in his life. When he faced her in battle, he hadn’t been able to put his heart into it. He could have defeated her easily, he had centuries of practice wielding a blade, but he just couldn’t bring himself to harm her. So, when she’d punched him, he pretended to be knocked out just so he could stop fighting with her. She could have the compass and safe passage back to her family. He and Cora could surely come up with another way to Storybrooke while Swan would be none the wiser.

It didn’t take long for him to remember the magic bean he’d taken from the giant. Luckily the waters of Lake Nostos were able to bring the bean back to its former glory and Cora agreed that they should use the Jolly Roger as their transport through the new portal it created. His life was becoming simple again. They would get to Storybrooke and his collusion with Cora would end. He would be free to get his revenge against the crocodile. And most importantly, he would avoid Swan like the plague. He didn’t need her distracting him again.

Whenever a thought of Emma popped into his head he forced himself to look down at the tattoo on his wrist. To look at Milah’s name and remember what he was living for. He wouldn’t let Swan distract him again.

Cora had a few things to take care of in the Enchanted Forest before they left, meaning they were sailing through the night. Cora took the opportunity to rest before they arrived, leaving Hook alone on deck. It had been so long since he’d been on the decks of the Jolly, and with Cora safely tucked away below, he could easily pretend that it was just him, his ship, and the sea. Without realizing it, he began to sing. His voice was soft and the melody was sweet as his words carried across the deck. It was a song he’d loved as a boy, a tale of a sailor returning home from years at sea.

Killian realized his mistake only when another voice joined him. He must have sung the same song three or four times in a row, enough that his soulmate knew all the words when she joined in. Hearing her sweet voice after so long startled him. She’d been silent for almost a decade but now she’d sung twice this week. Killian kept singing with her for a while, he could sort through his emotions later. For now, he was comforted by her melodic voice capturing the familiar melody. It was nice to know that someone was there. That someone, even for a moment, cared about what he was doing.

It wasn’t until he heard Cora stirring below decks that he stopped singing. He’d come too far to let Cora learn about his soulmate now. Not when revenge was nearly in his grasp. He knew that if he was caught singing by her again that she would find a way to use this mystery woman as leverage against him. To keep him bound to her instead of allowing him to get his revenge.

The voice in his head didn’t stop when he did, but she did change the tune. She sang him songs about the sea, songs about family, and finally, she sang him Milah’s lullaby. Briefly he allowed himself to imagine what could happen after getting his revenge. Maybe he could find this woman that the universe had destined for him. Once he’d avenged Milah, maybe he could try to find happiness again. It’s what Milah would have wanted for him. But then he forced himself to remember the truth. He wasn’t likely to survive his battle with the Crocodile. And even if he did, he wouldn’t deserve this woman. He knew that she’d experienced more than her fair share of pain in her life. He’d heard it in her voice while she’d sung through the years, and he would only bring her more hurt.

They were close enough to Storybrooke that he pushed all thoughts of soulmates and love out of his head and focused in on his mission. Cora was up on the deck at that point, she made it easier to ignore thoughts of good things.

He was more than ready to part ways when Cora stopped him, magic had been brought to Storybrooke. His advantage over Rumpelstiltskin was no longer there. To get his revenge, he would have to continue working with her. Hook was fairly convinced she’d planned this, but he had no other option. To avenge Milah, he would continue their alliance. He just hoped that he could stay out of Swan’s way.

////

As much as she knew it was the right thing to do, Emma still felt wrong about leaving Hook in the Enchanted Forest. She’d buried the thought for a while, focused on the happy reunion with her family. And when she and Mary Margret told their tale, she skimmed over Hook’s wrongdoings. His actions were too confusing and she didn’t want to think about it anymore. So she put it out of her mind. But then, when everyone else had gone to bed, Emma heard him singing. Suddenly she was six years old again, listening to her secret friend calm her down with his deep voice.

He sounded calm, not what she’d expected. Emma had thought that he would be upset with being stuck in the Enchanted Forest. She’d worried he might even have been dead. Killed by a vengeful Cora. But here he was singing to her a song about sailing home. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to sleep right away, not with all of this confusion in her mind, Emma got dressed and wandered the streets of Storybrooke while she listened to his song.

He kept singing the same melody, enough that she learned the words while she walked. So she made an impulsive decision and joined him. There was a slight waver in his voice at first, she’d obviously surprised him, but he kept singing. And Emma was hit with the realization that this felt right. Her singing along with a leather clad pirate from another realm felt like exactly what she was supposed to be doing.

Eventually he stopped singing, but Emma continued. She sang him songs about the sea, she didn’t know many, so when she ran out she sang to him about family. It was a way of thanking him for allowing her to come back to hers. A thank you for letting her get the compass. For putting her reunion above his revenge. On her way back to her parents loft she sang him the lullaby. She still didn’t know exactly what it meant to him, but it felt like the right thing to end on. Their song.

She laid in bed after that, willing sleep to come but her head was swimming with thoughts of the pirate. She didn’t know how to feel about him, or the fact that he was stuck in another realm and she would never see him again.

////

Days had passed and Hook had done a great job avoiding Emma Swan. As far as he could tell, she didn’t even know he was in Storybrooke. To make things even better, Cora had all but disappeared, focusing on her attentions on running her daughter’s life as opposed to his. All in all, he should be happy. He’d found Rumpelstiltskin, he’d discovered his weakness, and he was well on his way to coming up with a plan to get his revenge. But his life was never that simple. Ever since he’d gotten to Storybrooke, his soulmate had started singing again. It wasn’t a constant thing, nothing close to what that Mary Margret woman had been like in the Enchanted Forest. But she did sing a few times a day.

It made everything harder. It was like the universe shoving in his face that Milah wasn’t his one and only. That there was someone else out there that he was supposed to love. It made him feel like fate was trying to dissuade him from his revenge. Trying to convince him that this other woman should be more important to him. But he didn’t need that. Not when he was so close to finally obtaining everything that he’d worked toward for the past two centuries.

So, Hook refused to sing back. It would just make everything worse. And he also forced himself to stay away from the rum. He needed his wits about him when he was in hostile territory. Or at least that was the reason he told himself. The real reason was that he knew his resolve to ignore her voice would crumble the moment liquor hit his system.

He grew even more frustrated when her singing distracted him from his revenge. He had Belle on his ship, a gun aimed at her heart. A pull of the trigger and he would destroy the Dark One’s love like he’d destroyed Milah. But then he heard the singing. A silly song sung with laughter in her voice. There was conflict in his heart, how could he harm someone with that joy playing through his mind. That conflict distracted him for long enough for Belle to hit him with a post and escape.

When he caught up to her on the deck of the Jolly, Rumpelstiltskin had appeared. The song was still playing in his mind when he taunted the Crocodile. He could still hear her laughter while he was being beaten with the cane. It seemed fitting, he thought, dying while listening to the possibility of love. He’d lived so long mourning the loss of his first love that it was only right that he died hearing the happiness of the love that could never be. She was happy without him, she would not mourn his loss. Another laugh bubbled out of his throat, enraging the Dark One even more. The sheer hatred on his enemy’s face was the last thing he saw before the world went dark.

////

Emma didn’t know why she kept singing to Hook. Yes, she felt bad that she’d left him behind. But really, he was planning on killing someone, it wasn’t like she could have brought him with her knowing that would be as good as allowing a murder. And he was gone now, singing to him wasn’t helping her forget him. If she really wanted to get over all this soulmate business, she should just cut him loose. It wasn’t like he was responding to her anyway. But despite all of that, she didn’t stop.

Henry liked when she sang. When he asked if anyone sang back she could honestly tell him no, she just didn’t mention the fact that they once had. He didn’t need to know about the whole Hook thing. No one did. But Henry did like it when she sang to him or with him. He liked to teach her all these silly songs he learned at school or on TV or even make up nonsense songs for them to sing together. So Emma kept singing. Not just as an apology to Hook anymore, but as a way to bond with her son. It did feel a bit odd at first, knowing that a pirate could hear her private moments with her child, but since he had stopped singing, it was easier for her to ignore it.

She’d made good progress on not thinking about Hook when it happened. They’d heard that Rumpelstiltskin was planning to cross the town line. She and her parents piled into the police cruiser and raced to the border to stop him from being stupid. When she got there, she did not find what she was expecting. Sure, Rumpelstiltskin was there, but there were two bloodied bodies on the ground, and a fairly wrecked car off to the side of the road. She quickly radioed for an ambulance before trying to piece together the scene.

Emma quickly realized that one of the people was Belle and she let her parents take care of her while she looked towards the other injured person. Someone who was clad nearly entirely in black leather. It couldn’t be… could it? She’d left him behind in the Enchanted Forest. But then she saw the gleaming metal of his hook. It was him. Her freaking soulmate she’d been all torn up about abandoning was here.

“Hey beautiful,” he winced at her as she approached. She didn’t respond as she knelt beside him, trying to get a sense of the damage that had been done to him. “Here I didn’t think you’d notice…” he cried out from pain when she put pressure on his side.

“I think your ribs are broken,” she grimaced as she took him in. He was covered in blood, some of it dried already. So he’d been hurt then hurt again. What the hell had happened to him since she’d left?

“Well that must be why it hurts when I laugh,” he tried to roll himself up. “Did you see his face?” Hook sat up and looked over to where Gold and Belle were huddled. “His one true love gone in an instant. Just like Milah, Crocodile. When you took her from me!” The amount of anger and hatred in his voice scared Emma. He was nearly on death’s door yet he was pushing himself just to rub his revenge in Gold’s face. This wasn’t the man she’d met up on the beanstalk. This was the pirate that was thirsting for his revenge.

“But you took her first,” Gold’s tone was cold as he kneed Hook in the face.

“Gold! Are you insane!?” Emma nearly screamed as Hook fell back against the pavement.

“Yes I am!” There was fury in his voice as he jumped on top of Hook and started to strangle him with his cane.

Emma panicked as she saw Killian struggling to breathe under the pressure of the cane upon his neck. She pulled on Gold’s arm, desperate for him to get off Killian. She was vaguely aware of David helping her, but her focus was directed on helping the pirate laying prone on the pavement. She could hear David and Gold arguing with each other but she didn’t take in their words, her entire being was focused on making sure Killian was still alive. Every groan he made, every flicker of pain that crossed his face, both hurt and relieved her. She hated to see him in pain but the pain meant he was still in there.

When the ambulance arrived, Gold finally removed his cane from Killian’s neck. Emma quickly pulled him off the rest of the way, trying to make sure he didn’t injure the pirate further. When Killian took in a gasp of air, Emma finally was able to refocus on the situation around her. Killian was alive, for now at least. She directed the EMT’s to make sure that everyone was getting to the hospital then jumped in the ambulance to ride with Killian.

“What are you doing?” Mary Margret called after her.

“I, uh…” she didn’t really know what she was doing, just that she couldn’t leave his side right now. Not when he was hurting like this. “If he’s here, Cora probably is too, I’m gonna see if he has any information. And, keep him from getting killed before he can talk.” Mary Margret and David didn’t look too happy about her answer but they nodded and the ambulance was on its way.

Emma was separated from Hook for a while when the doctors were fixing him up. She stood guard outside whatever room they were in, telling anyone who asked it was in case Gold decided he wanted to finish the job and kill him. Her parents were busy figuring out what to do with the stranger that had crashed into their town. Emma knew that she should probably be working with them but she needed some time to figure out what was going on.

Hook was here. In Storybrooke. She didn’t know how long he’d been there for, but he hadn’t come to find her. She didn’t know if that was a bad thing or a good thing yet. On the one hand, it meant that he didn’t seem like he was going to try and kill her for leaving him behind in the Enchanted Forest with only Cora for company. But on the other hand, he hadn’t sought her out. They barely knew each other, and he didn’t know of the connection between them. But she was still disappointed she hadn’t seen him. She’d spent so much time since she’d gotten back trying to figure out how to live with the fact that she was never going to see him again, and he had possibly been less than a mile away the whole time.

And she’d been singing to him too. Ever since she’d gotten back she’d sung apologies for leaving him. And apparently he hadn’t really been trapped for that long. She felt a bit foolish about the whole thing. And angry, upset that she’d been worried about this… this pirate. She was prepared to give him a piece of her mind when they finally let her see him again. But then he was asleep. He looked so peaceful and young. All his kohl was washed off his eyes, and his black leather was replaced with a soft hospital robe. And then he’d wince in pain when he moved. It broke something in her to see him this venerable and unguarded. So she went to take care of a few things, both to give him time to rest and her time to get her thoughts in order.

She had the hospital staff give her his hook, she knew better than to leave him with a weapon. She then handcuffed him to the bed. It was partially for show, her parents wouldn’t take well to her letting him have free reign of the place, but it was also partially to protect him. If he got out he could go after Gold again, and there was no guarantee he would survive another such reunion.

After she’d taken care of all of that, she sat on the side of his bed and watched him. When he looked particularly pained, she started to sing. She wasn’t really sure why, she was still upset with him. He’d just shot Belle, someone who had nothing to do with any of this. He’d hurt an innocent for his own revenge. But laying there he just looked so young and so hurt. So she reached out and lightly brushed his hair back from his face and she sang him the lullaby.

////

Killian was dead. He was sure of it. He was dead and there was an angel singing Milah’s lullaby to him. He’d never expected to survive his fight with the Crocodile and he was just glad he’d gotten some measure of vengeance before his life left him. He tried to move then but groaned when he was flooded with pain. The singing stopped abruptly but he was too absorbed in trying to quell the deep shooting pain to notice right away. If he was dead, why did he hurt so bloody much?

He opened his eyes to take stock of his surroundings. He was in a bed and everything was light blue or white. Not a color scheme he was particularly fond of. He tried to take a breath but found that even just breathing hurt him. He started a bit when he noticed someone was on the bed with him. Emma Swan was sitting there staring at him. The woman he’d been trying to avoid. Suddenly everything came flooding back to him. She’d found him, escorted him to the hospital, and apparently sat there with him while he was out of it. Had she been the one singing? No. She would have had no way of knowing Milah’s lullaby. It must have been his soulmate again.

“Where’s Cora?” Emma’s voice was even when she spoke to him, but he noticed something that looked suspiciously like relief in her eyes. What it was for, he couldn’t quite tell, she was probably just happy he was awake so she could interrogate him.

“What?” Hook went to sit up but was prevented from doing so by something around his wrist. He looked down to see that she’d cuffed him to the bed. “That again? You’re really into this aren’t you?” She gave him a small smile in response, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes. He tried to sit up again but between his shackled hand and the shooting pain in his ribs, he was forced to lay back against the pillows.

“You cracked a few ribs,” Swan told him as she moved off his bed and came to stand by his face. “Now where’s Cora?”

“You look good I must say,” he smirked at her, knowing that if he answered her questions she’d leave him. He may have been trying hard to avoid this woman, but now that she was here he didn’t want to lose her company. “You’re all commanding in this world.”

“You know you have all sorts of sore places I can make you hurt.”

“Resorting to torture now love?”

“Do I need to?”

“Well, Swan, I can think of a few more enjoyable things we can do with this bed,” he smirked at her.

“You’re awfully chipper for a guy who just failed to kill his enemy, then got hit by a car.”

“My ribs may be broken but,” he glanced toward his waist, “everything else is still intact.” His smile grew when he noticed Emma rolling his eyes at him. “It’s more than can be said for other bad days I’ve had,” he looked pointedly at the spot where his hand should be. “Speaking of, my hook, may I have it back? Or is there another attachment you’d prefer?” He gave her his most dastardly smirk to cover up how he winced when he shifted. He could not show this woman any more weakness than he already had.

“Keep dreaming buddy.”

“As you wish my lady.” He could tell that she was getting flustered. Usually he would keep going down that route, try and throw Swan off her game for once. But he wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t end up being the one who got hurt if this continued. So he changed tactics. Talk about his revenge to get Swan to hate him. There was something too honest in her expression, like she actually cared that he was hurt, and it was getting to him. “I don’t know that I’d qualify this as a bad day.”

“Oh, and why is that.”

“Well I did some quality damage to my foe.”

“You hurt Belle.” She seemed angry about this, maybe she was fond of this Belle woman.

“No, I hurt his heart. Belle is just where he keeps it. He killed my love, I know the feeling.” He gave her a small, sarcastic smile when he finished and ignored the flash of pity that went through her eyes. She seemed tired when she leaned closer to him, almost sad.

“Keep smiling buddy. You’re chained down, he’s on his feet, immortal, has magic, and you’ve just hurt his girl. If I were to pick dead guy of the year,” she leaned closer to him until there were only inches separating their faces, “I’d pick you.”

“Well love,” he breathed out, “I guess it’s a good thing I’m a survivor.” He gave her another smile, one that was almost genuine as she continued to look down at him. There was something in her expression that was too honest, forcing him to look away. He needed her to leave. As long as he was still alive, he needed to go after his revenge. He needed to stop letting her distract him.

“I have no idea where Cora is, she has her own agenda.” He spoke quickly as he moved as far away from her as he could. She paused for a moment, as if surprised by the sudden change in topic, but ultimately nodded and turned to leave. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she paused and looked at him again.

“Killian,” she spoke softly, using his real name. He felt his heartrate pick up at that, it had been a long time since anyone had called him that.

“Aye?” he didn’t meet her eyes, focusing instead on the bandage that covered the stump of his lost hand.

“Just be careful.” She didn’t wait for him to reply, just turned and walked out the door.

Killian let out a breath he’d been holding since he’d woken up. Bloody buggering hell this woman would be the death of him.

////

It had been a long day and Emma wanted nothing more than to talk a walk around Storybrooke to ease her troubled mind. She wanted to think about what it meant to have Hook here, especially given the fact that he seemed hell bent on dying. Her family, however, wasn’t about to let her go. They wanted to have a strategy meeting about what to do about Cora, and she couldn’t get away. So she contributed as much as she could and was thankful when there was a knock on the door. Well thankful until she opened it to find none other than Mr. Gold standing there.

“You remember that favor you owe me, Miss Swan?” He stated as he strode past her into the loft.

“Yeah?”

“I’m cashing it in. I need you to find somebody.”

“Who?”

“It doesn’t matter, we’re leaving in the morning.”

“Leaving? We just got back!” That was Mary Margret. She closed in on them, ready to go all Mama Bear on his ass.

“It has to be tomorrow,” Gold responded, not taking his eyes off of Emma, “because every minute I’m here is a minute closer to me killing Hook.” Emma struggled to keep her breathing steady as he spoke. “So it’s really best for everyone concerned if I leave. And you’re going to come with me. I’ll see you in the morning,” he turned to leave.

“Gold, wait,” Emma followed him out of the loft.

“What is it, Miss Swan? Trying to talk your way out of it?”

“No, I’ll go with you, but you have to tell me who I’m looking for.”

“My son. We’re going after my son, Baelfire.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so I'm like super bad at responding to comments :P I do read and appreciate all of them though!!!!!
> 
> Anyway, if you ever want to interact, I respond to everything on tumblr!! Feel free to come bother me: paranoiaqueen.tumblr


	6. I Knew You Were Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wrote all of this today cause I realized it's been a while since I updated. Fair warning, as many of you have guessed: this is the Neal chapter and I kinda really hate Neal. So like yeah... that's a thing. I tried to be nice(ish) to him so there is that but I still really hate him. Also, I was plotting out this fic, and I have AT LEAST 13 more chapters to go so be warned that we're in for a wild ride.
> 
> Anyway I don't have a beta rn cause she said she won't read this until the angst is done so all mistakes are my own. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!!!

Emma had barely had time to come to terms with the fact that she was the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, that her soulmate is Captain _freaking_ Hook, her son’s other mother is the evil Queen and now she was being dragged off to God knows where to find Rumpelstiltskin’s son. Because that is apparently just how her life rolls now. Then there was the fact that the Evil Queen’s even eviler mother had a diabolical plot that she wished to enact on the citizens of Storybrooke. Meaning, there was no way in hell that Emma was leaving her son behind.

Mr. Gold hadn’t seemed particularly excited when she’d brought Henry with her, but she’d shut him up soon enough. If Henry couldn’t come, she was staying right here where she could protect him from Cora. That had made Gold reluctantly agree that she could bring him along. Emma figured he must really need her help if he was going to give in to her demands that easily.

 She hopped that they weren’t going to be gone for long, but she packed the two of them enough clothes for a few days and gave Hook’s hook to David to take care of. She suggested that he give it back to the pirate, but she really didn’t think that was going to happen anytime soon. If everybody was still alive when she got back, she’d deal with it then.

Henry fell asleep about 30 seconds in to their plane ride, despite his initial excitement about flying for the first time. Mr. Gold wasn’t a talkative person and pretty much ignored her the second they got on the plane meaning that Emma had the entire flight left alone with her thoughts. Which almost instantly turned to Hook.

Sometimes, she could almost understand why they were soulmates. He’d known the pain of losing someone you loved. He understood building up walls to keep others out. Where she used hostility and sarcasm, he used unabashed flirting to hide his true self. Had Emma ever seen Neal again, she probably would have gone on a revenge kick too.

But at the same time, Emma really didn’t want to explore this whole soulmate thing. Her life was complicated enough just trying to get to know her parents, she wasn’t about to throw some ‘predestined love story’, or whatever the fuck the soulmate thing was, into the mix. Not to mention, she didn’t trust Hook.

Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t have betrayed her to Cora in the Enchanted Forest had she not left him on the beanstalk. It was _possible_ that they could have gotten back to Storybrooke together without incident. But Emma didn’t think for a moment that she could have stood between Hook and his revenge. Even if she wanted to be with him, which she really didn’t, they couldn’t be together when all Hook wanted was to kill someone she was supposed to protect as sheriff. The ghost of his past love was hanging over him, and it was not something Emma was going to get herself involved in. He was still hung up on his first love, his Milah.

////

Finding the building where Baelfire lived was the easy part. It took about twelve seconds from the time they arrived for Emma to deduce which apartment was his. But then, of course, before she even saw his face, he took off running down the street. She’d literally just said she was from UPS, why the fuck was this guy so jumpy? And then, of course, Gold insisted that she run after him. That she needed to catch him and get him to talk to him to fulfill their deal.

Luckily, she had ample practice running people down from her bail bonds-woman days. It only took her a few blocks before she was able to tackle him to the ground. She flipped herself up and found herself staring into his face.

“Neal?!” Emma cried out in shock when she saw the face of the man she just chased down, a face she could never forget. The man who was probably Baelfire, son of Rumpelstiltskin, looked just as surprised as she did.

“Emma?”

So yeah, this was apparently happening. And he was smiling. Seriously? After all the shit he’d put her through, he was fucking smiling?! Oh this was so not okay.

“I don’t understand, what are you doing here?” Neal got up off the pavement where she’d tackled him and started walking closer to her. His voice had a hint of a laugh and the smile on his face was growing. Like he was happy to see her.

“What am I doing here?”

“Yeah.” Neal replied, like it was the only question anyone could be asking in that moment.

“I’m not answering anything until you tell me the truth,” Emma backed away from him, putting her hands in front of her body in a slightly defensive stance. She hadn’t seen this man in almost eleven years and she did not trust him. “Are you Gold’s son?” Neal sent her a look like she was crazy. Like it was irrational that she was backing away from him and not immediately opening up.

“What are you talking about? Who’s Gold?” Neal’s voice was still light, the smile not quite gone from his expression yet. He was doing it again, making her feel like she was crazy for doubting him.

“You played me,” the realization was coursing through her veins as she spoke, “you’re from there. You played me! And he played me… you both played me!”

“Whoa, Emma, slow down,” Neal tried to cut her off. “Who’s Gold?”

“Your father.” That wiped the smile off of his face, _fucking finally,_ “Rumpelstiltskin.”

“He’s here?” Neal looked around like the angry old man would have somehow followed them.

“Why else would I be in New York?”

“You brought him to me!” Neal screamed as he stepped closer to her. “Why would you do that!?”

“Hey!” Emma screamed back, “I’m the only one allowed to be angry here!” Neal backed off a little at this. “Did you know who I was? Where I was from? The whole time? Was this just some sort of sick twisted plan?”

Neal tried to cut her off, he was never good at dealing with emotional outbursts. But Emma was too riled up to let him roll over her this time.

“I want the truth! I want all of it! I fucking deserve all of it!”

Before Neal could respond, her soulmate connection blared to life. Songs of victory and vengeance flowed through the bond she shared with the leather clad pirate and filled her with resolve. She didn’t stop to question why he was singing, just let herself enjoy the sentiment. It was what she needed. It helped her gather herself, to be ready for whatever bullshit Neal was about to spout.

“Alright!” Neal yelled, grabbing her arms. She pulled back like she’d been burned. Who did he think he was to touch her right now? “We have to get off the street. I won’t do this out in the open. I spent a lifetime running from that man, I’m not going to let him catch me. I know a bar we can go to, it’s just down the block.”

“I am not getting a drink with you!” Emma spat, feeling her anger rising even more at the thought. How could he think that was a good idea? That after everything he’d put her through she’d just go to get a drink with him to catch up like old friends? “Whatever you’re going to tell me, tell me now!”

“No, bar’s better,” Neal looked back at her then rolled his eyes, “don’t worry, you can keep yelling at me when we get there.” Then, without waiting for any conformation from her, he turned his back and walked down the street. If she wanted any answers from the man who had pretty much ruined her life, she had to follow him. Great, eleven years later and still everything was on his terms.

////

The Crocodile had left town and nobody had felt the need to inform Hook. He almost went mad with rage when he heard Cora and her daughter discussing it. They knew he wanted his revenge, he’d helped the both of them far more than necessary, and still he was being ignored. They’d tried to convince him to help them search for the Dark One’s dagger while he was away but Hook knew better than to trust the two of them again. He had his own way to skin himself a Crocodile.

But, for Killian’s ploy to work, he needed his hook back. When he’d assisted the ‘heroes’ earlier, he’d overheard them arguing about it. The Mary Margret woman had said something about how they should give it back to him but that David fellow, a really pretentious sod in Killian’s opinion, had said that he was going to keep it. He’d been hoping that Swan woman would have it. As uncomfortable as he was around her, he knew that he would probably be able to convince her to give it back. She’d been nicer to him recently after all. But she was gone, fled with the sarding Dark One. So Hook had to resort to other measures to get it back from the ‘charming’ deputy sheriff.

There were two upsides to this situation. One, the deputy did not have a creative bone in his body. He was as predictable as a rooster crowing at dawn. It was easy for Killian to figure out that he’d hidden the hook in the sheriff’s station, and even easier for him to find out the other man’s schedule and plan an ambush. The second positive was that he was able to knock the bloody git out cold. There was just something about that man that irked Killian on a deep level, and he felt immense satisfaction hitting him over the head with a metal pole. After that, it was quick work for him to steal the man’s keys find his hook and hightail it back to his ship before anyone noticed.

Killian had been able to guilt Regina into giving him a copy of the tracking information the Crocodile was using, meaning Hook knew exactly where he would find his mortal enemy. In a foreign kingdom known as New York. Not that Killian quite knew where Old York was, but it didn’t really matter for his quest. He had his Hook and a vial of concentrated dreamshade, he was ready for his revenge.

A giddy feeling bubbled up in his chest as he sailed. He was about to confront the Dark One, sans magic. He could almost taste the sweet nectar of vengeance on his tongue. And there was no Cora to interrupt his mood this time. So, filled with elation, Killian Jones began to sing. He started with songs of victory, melodies that captured the sheer sense of anticipation he felt coursing through his veins.

Then, abruptly, he realized what these songs all had in common. They all spoke of a family to return to. A victory won to protect those they loved. A bitter taste filled his mouth as he listened to his voice expelling the words. Unlike the heroes of these tales, Killian had no love to return to. Even if he was victorious, Milah was already dead and his soulmate wasn’t likely to want him after everything he was about to do. Hell, he’d probably even send the Swan woman running for the hills again, no matter how much she seemed to be trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

So Killian stopped with the songs of victory and changed to the song of remembrance. Milah’s lullaby. He sang it strong and low, letting the melody roll over the deck and through the wind. He let himself submerge into the memory of his love, his Milah, and everything she’d meant to him. After today, there would be nothing more that he could do for her. So, on the eve of his vengeance, he sang in her honor.

////

“Well, what do you want to know, Emma?” There was a tone of frustration in Neal’s voice as he spoke. Like he was irritated that they were focusing on her needs instead of why his father was there. “You want the truth? Ask away.”

“Did you know who I was when we met?” Emma was glad that Hook was still singing, his songs of revenge were exactly what she needed right now. She should probably be worried that he was singing them, it probably wasn’t for a good reason, but she would worry about that later. At a time when she wasn’t having a facedown with the man who had left her to rot in a cell.

“If I had, I wouldn’t have gone near you. I was in hiding. I came here to get away from all that crap.”

“So if you didn’t know, then you were just using me,” Emma felt the tears welling up in her eyes, the pain of the old betrayal suddenly burning like it was fresh. “You just needed someone to take the fall for the watches that you stole.”

 “I wasn’t using you,” he rolled his eyes at her like it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. Dismissing her concerns, again. “When we met, I didn’t know. I found out later.”

“How?” She was proud that she kept her voice even, Hook’s singing was helping her more than she could have imagined.

“That song you were humming.”

“You let me rot in prison for you because I hummed a song?”

“It wasn’t just any song, Ems,” he rolled his eyes at her again, “it was the lullaby my mother used to sing me. A lullaby that doesn’t belong in this realm.”

“You still let me rot in prison over a song!” Emma now understood why movies added music to battle sequences. There was something in the beats of Hook’s singing that was giving her courage to fight back. To not be a doormat to this man any longer. “And how do you know it’s not from this realm. It’s a freaking lullaby, ever think that maybe it exists in both places?”

“You told me about your imaginary friend, from when you were a kid.” He looked down at his drink while he spoke, “I knew what that meant. You had a soulmate from there. Those connections don’t exist here.”

“You left me, you let me go to prison for _your crime_ because I had someone who sang to me? You knew I didn’t know what it meant. You knew that I had no idea where it had come from. You knew that _I loved you_ and you still left!”

“I was, uh…” He had the courtesy of at least looking uncomfortable with her at this point, “I was trying to… help you.”

“By letting me go to jail?”

“By not painting a target on your back for my father. I thought that if you were from there than my father must have had something to do with it. And that with two of us he would track us down faster.”

“So you’re telling me that us meeting was a coincidence? Cause how the fuck did that happen?!”

“Think about it, he wanted you to break the curse. Us meeting, that could have stopped it. It must have been fate.”

“How the hell do you know about any of that? Were you keeping tabs on me? Stalking me afterwards?”

“I ran into a friend of yours, August, a few years after we met. He let me know what was going on with Storybrooke. He kept me posted about the curse and the savior.”

“So you didn’t care what happened to me after the watches? Someone paid for your crime, you were off scot free, why the hell would you care anymore?!” Her voice swelled along with Hook’s song. The beats of his voice fueling her rage. “And what the fuck do you mean about that bullshit fate excuse? You can’t seriously believe that!”

“Says the woman with a soulmate,” he let out a small laugh, one that only grew as she glared at him. “My father used to say that there are no such things as coincidences. That everything that happens, happens by design and there’s nothing we can do about it. Forces greater than us conspire to make it happen. Fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it.” Hook had stopped singing, rather suddenly, during Neal’s speech. Emma was on her own. “The point is, that maybe we met for a reason. Maybe something good came from us being together.”

“It doesn’t matter now, I’m over it. I’m over you.”

“Then why are you wearing the keychain I got you?” Neal gave her a knowing smile, like he’d caught her in a lie.

“To remind myself never to trust someone again.” She tore the swan pendant off her neck and placed it on the bar in front of Neal.

“So nothing good came from us being together?”

Emma was about to say no, Neal didn’t deserve to know about Henry. And she wouldn’t want her son to know about the shithead that was his father. But then, she paused. Hook had started singing again, and this time, it was the lullaby. The one that he’d sung all through her childhood. The one that Neal said his mother had sung to him when he was young. And it made her realize that she couldn’t do this. Even if Neal was nearly the worst person she’d ever encountered. Even if he reason for leaving was the most bullshit thing she’d ever heard. Henry deserved to know about his father.

She’d made a deal with Gold to get his son to talk to him. She had to bring Neal back to him, and that meant back to Henry. There was no way this would end well for anyone if she tried to keep this to herself. So, she sat back down on the stool and took a long breath to prepare herself.

“There is exactly one good thing that came from us being together. And I need you to know that I am not telling you this for you, I’m telling you this for him. Because he deserves to know about you.”

Emma glanced up to see the confused look on Neal’s face. She really didn’t want to do this. She’d told Henry his dad was a fireman; that he’d died being a hero. But if she told Neal the truth now, when Henry was in this city, he’d want to meet him. She’d have to tell Henry the truth. She’d lied to him. That apparently he was the grandson of Rumpelstiltskin because those were the types of things that happened in their family.

“Emma what…?” she held up a hand to cut Neal off.

“Just give me a second.” She took another deep breath as she reached into her purse for her wallet. Only the soothing sounds of Hook’s voice singing the lullaby was keeping her grounded. This was the right thing to do. Henry deserved to know his family. She pulled out the picture of Henry that she carried with her and slid it across the bar to Neal. “This is my son, Henry.”

“How old is he?”

“Eleven.”

“Is this… Is this my son?” Neal looked up at her with something like hope in his eyes.

“Yes.”

“Is he… Is he here? In New York?”

“He’s with your dad.” Neal looked up at her, shocked, like he’d forgotten that Gold was in town too.

“I can’t, Emma, I can’t go to him. I’ve been running away for too long now.”

“You can if you ever want to meet Henry.”

“He’s my kid to! You can’t just make decisions like that on your own anymore!”

“Neal, if you ever want to meet your son you need to come with me. I made a deal with Gold that I would bring you to him and I intend to uphold my end.”

“You made a deal with him? Emma!”

“I didn’t know who he was at the time, but it doesn’t matter. You know what he does to people who break deals. I don’t intend to follow in their footsteps. So yes, you need to come back with me.”

The internal battle waging in Neal’s mind was written all over his face. Emma knew he wanted to meet Henry; that he didn’t want to abandon Henry like he’d been abandoned, or like he’d abandoned her.

“Fine, I’ll come with you.”

////

Cora’s cloaking spell carried over into the land without magic. It was helpful, it meant he could dock the jolly without too much trouble, or too many questions. You didn’t have to pay to dock an invisible boat.

When he went to navigate further on foot, he had some difficulty. This realm had more people than he’d expected. The pavement was nearly as crowded as the crew quarters on a ship with a full crew! He’d learned in Storybrooke that you didn’t walk on the same path as the horseless carriages, getting hit by one once was enough. But the spaces for people were not nearly large enough. And there were so many streets. He could navigate his way through the jungles of Neverland, but nothing could have prepared him for making his way through this urban monstrosity.

It took him near an hour to find his way to the building where the Dark One was supposed to be. An hour and asking directions from more than a few natives of the land. At least on the sea you could see where you were going. He didn’t know why anyone would choose to live here where everything was so bunched together and claustrophobic.

When he finally did arrive, he was in luck. There was the Dark One, clear as day standing in the entrance to the building. And he was alone. The Swan woman was nowhere in sight. There was nothing standing between him and his revenge. Hook took the dreamshade out of one of the many pockets of his coat and carefully coated his hook. He was careful not to touch himself with the vile poison. The Crocodile had no magic here, if he was careful, he could survive this encounter.

////

Introducing Henry to his father hadn’t been as painful as Emma had been expecting. She’d pulled Henry away from Gold, asking Gold to stand watch in case Neal came back while she brought Henry to the bathroom. She’d explained to Henry that Baelfire was his father, how she’d told him the story about the firefighter because she’d wanted to protect him. How she knew that was wrong but she wanted him to be proud of his parents. Then she introduced the two boys.

They were awkward at first, neither had known about the other after all, but eventually they relaxed into their meeting. Emma gave them a bit of time to themselves, to really meet each other. While they talked, her mind wandered. Hook had stopped singing around the time she’d walked back to get Henry, so around forty minutes ago at this point. She didn’t think much of it at first, Emma was preoccupied with letting her son know he had a father, but now she took the time to consider what had happened. Hook didn’t sing anymore. So why had he started today? And why revenge songs when Gold was… Shit.

Had he someone found out where they’d gone? Did he know Gold had crossed into the realm without magic? What if Hook managed to track Gold down? He would have no way to protect himself, and they’d left him all alone. Gold may have done some terrible things in the past, but he was Henry’s Grandfather. There was a chance he was in danger and they had to do something.

“We need to leave,” she interrupted the conversation, getting an irritated glance from Neal.

“Emma, you promised that…”

“I think your father is in danger.” That shut Neal up quickly. As much as he claimed to hate his father, she knew he didn’t actually want anything bad to happen to him.

They rushed out of the shop and back to Neal’s apartment building, just in time to see man wearing a long leather coat disappearing through the doors.

“I need you and Henry to stay here.” She sent a glare back at Neal, daring him to disagree.

“Be careful,” Neal swallowed before nodding at her. Emma nodded back then refocused on the scene across the street. She checked for cars before rushing into the building.

“Tick tock, time’s up Crocodile,” she heard Hook sneer the second she burst through the door. He had his hook raised, ready to strike at Gold who was lying on the floor. She noticed there was already blood, but Gold was still alive. She was late, but she could still stop Hook from cold blooded murder.

“You took Milah,” Hook continued, obviously unaware of Emma’s presence, “and for that I now take your life.”

Emma knew this was not the time for worrying about hurting the pirate. She saw something heavy and metal, picked it up, and bashed him over the head. Knocking him out cold.

“Gold, are you alright?” she turned to the man, seeing him look down at blood on his hand. Blood that had come from a gushing wound on his chest. This was not good.

“What happened?” Neal burst through the door, Henry right behind him. They really weren’t good at the whole waiting thing.

“One of your dad’s enemy’s found him,” she glanced over at Hook who was lying motionless on the ground.

“Hook.” She glanced up at Neal in surprise.

“You know him?” Neal gave her a look in response before turning to his injured father.

“Papa!”

Emma let Neal help his father, she was more concerned with how Hook had found them. Searching through his coat she found a map with directions from Storybrooke to New York… by sea.

“I think he used his ship to get here,” she murmured.

“Well then that’s how we’ll get back,” Neal’s voice made her jump, “there’s magic in Storybrooke and that’s the only thing that will save him. The Jolly Roger is the fastest ship in the realm, it’s our best bet.”

“And who’s going to steer it?”

“I am.”

“You can sail a pirate ship?” Emma looked at Neal in surprise, waiting for an explanation that didn’t come. He just gave her a small nod and turned back to his father. “Okay then, what about Hook?”

“He made his way here, I’m sure he can make his way back. Why? Do you have a problem leaving him behind?” Neal cast a curious glance her way.

“I’ve done it before,” Emma hesitated after that remembering the results of every time she’d left him behind, “and it’s never ended well. He needs to come with us.”

“Emma, he tried to kill my father!”

“I know, and I’d like to have him somewhere that I can keep my eye on him so he doesn’t finish the job.”

“Alright fine, we can bring the freaking pirate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to find me on tumblr: ParanoiaQueen.tumblr.com


	7. Everything Has Changed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait for this chapter, I had a lot of trouble writing it and I'm still not really satisfied with it but I figured it'd been long enough since I last updated. Here we start some more major canon divergence so be prepared. Also, all the comments I got on the last chapter were about how much people hated Neal so I threw in some extra Neal bashing at the beginning.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

They’d gotten to the ship without incident. Well aside from the whole running into Neal’s fiancée fiasco. The only reason Emma even saw that as a problem is that Neal seemed to think she would be all torn up about finding out that he’d moved on… more than a decade after she’d last seen him. Seriously, his ego knew no bounds. But other than that, they’d somehow found Hook’s ship and loaded everyone on without too many problems. Surprising given that the vessel was still invisible.

When they boarded, Emma let Neal take care of his father while she locked Hook up in the Captain’s quarters. She could have put him in the brig, but he’d probably be easier to manage if she did this little thing for him.

She did, however, take his hook again. Emma was careful to avoid the tip when she slid it off, she couldn’t tell if the poison was still there or not and she was not about to risk it. So she hid the hook in one of his drawers of clothes, handcuffed him to the bed, and shut the door behind her. She knew that he’d probably be able to get out without too much difficulty but he was still out cold and she’d stay nearby to wait for signs of movement.

She’d promised Neal that she’d keep an eye on Gold during the journey, make sure he didn’t die before they hit Storybrooke or something. They’d lain him down in the crew’s quarters so she made her way over. Once she got close, she heard something that she was not expecting. Someone was singing the lullaby. Her lullaby.

Was Hook awake already? She’d just left him and he’d seemed like he was still very unconscious. But then Emma realized that the sound wasn’t coming through the soulmate connection, but rather from the crew’s quarters. And the voice was all wrong. Someone else was singing their song.

Emma crept closer to the opening and peered through, only to see Neal leaning over Gold’s cot and singing softly. Seeing his father like this had really affected him. He was hunched over the older man, shoulders shaking from stress. She could see worry lines on his face as he smoothed down his father’s hair. His lips barely moving as he tried to comfort the man.

 She realized that Neal was the one who was singing. It made sense, she knew that it was his mother’s song, but she’d still never heard anyone else carry those notes. It felt wrong. Like someone was infringing on something that was private between her and Hook.

“Are you almost ready to get going?” Emma knocked on the door, forcing Neal to stop singing. It felt like a weight had been lifted. The notes sounded just wrong without Hook’s accented voice. And there was a difference in the tune that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Like the differences between the original version and cover of a song.

“Yeah,” he looked a bit embarrassed, probably because she’d seen him acting so tender around the father he claimed to hate, “is the pirate secure?”

“Yes, Hook won’t be hurting anyone else anytime soon.”

Neal nodded then walked past her into the hall, making his way to the deck of the ship. Emma paused for a moment, she should stay with Gold, but her mind was filled with questions and theories that Neal could answer. So, she followed him into the fresh air.

“Henry, can you go sit with Mr. Gold?” she directed her son, not wanting him on deck for the conversation they were about to have. Neal sent her a curious look but didn’t move to stop her.

“What’s up, Ems?” Neal questioned the moment Henry’s mop of brown hair disappeared below decks.

“I wanted to ask you about that song.”

“The lullaby?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s just something that my mom used to sing to me as a kid.” Neal was looking into the horizon as he steered the ship out onto the open water.

“Was it popular in the Enchanted Forest?”

“I know it was popular in my village, I’m not really sure about the rest. Why are you so curious about this?”

“I heard it as a kid, remember?”

“Oh yeah, that.” Neal was refusing to look at her, like he didn’t want her to bring up the fact that she had a soulmate. Like she’d had a choice in the matter. “Look, Ems, I left the Enchanted Forest a long time ago, I have no idea how wide spread that song got. It was just something I remember about my mom.”

“Okay.” Emma paused for a moment, trying to rethink how she would go about getting information. She didn’t want to tip Neal off that Hook was her soulmate, it would just complicate everything further. She knew he’d use it against her and say that she was only protecting him because of the bond or that she couldn’t be trusted to be rational when her soulmate was concerned. She really didn’t want to deal with that, so she was being careful. “You seemed to recognize Hook back there?”

Neal didn’t meet her eyes, he just kept staring straight ahead with a steely expression on his face. Emma waited for a reply, but when nothing came she pressed further.

“How do you know him Neal?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because I’m the sheriff of Storybrooke and he just tried to kill your father. Who, by the way, is someone I’m supposed to protect. I think I deserve to know everything I can about the people trying to muck up the peace in my town.”

“Sheesh, Ems, you don’t have to get all bitchy about it.” Emma prided herself on keeping calm in the face of that blatant misogyny. “I met him a bit after I ran away from my dad.”

“Where?”

“In Neverland.”

“Seriously? Were Peter Pan and Wendy there too?”

“I’m not telling you this just so you can ridicule me you know.”

“Fine. I’ll stop,” Emma used all her willpower not to roll her eyes at him.

“Anyway, I ended up on this ship with him for a while until he handed me over to Pan.”

“Wait, Peter Pan?”

“Yes. And before you ask, he’s nothing like the stories they have here. He’s not someone you’d ever want to meet.”

Emma was used to that by now, the stories not matching up to the people she met. But it was still a bit disappointing to her. Peter Pan and the Lost Boys had been some of her favorite stories as a kid. Orphans finding a family with each other had been something that she’d dreamed of.

“Is that why you don’t like him? Because he gave you to Pan?”

“Yeah,” Neal glanced at her, “and what he did to my mother.” That last part was muttered, he probably didn’t think that Emma could hear it.

“Your mother? What did he do to her?”

Neal sent her an exasperated look, like she wasn’t supposed to ask about that. But he was the one who’d brought it up so it was all fair game.

“He took her when I was a kid.” There was a bitterness in Neal’s voice, but Emma also heard some uncertainty. Like he wasn’t quite sure that was the whole story. She didn’t know what had happened between the two, but right now she had other things she needed answered.

“What was her name?” Emma was pretty sure she knew what the answer would be, but if she was right it would answer a lot of questions. It would also complicate everything. But she had to know.

“Milah. Her name was Milah.”

////

Killian woke with a beast of a headache, but it was minor next to the aching pains shooting throughout his whole body. He still hadn’t recovered from getting hit by that horseless carriage. His head throbbed as he came to consciousness, struggling to remember what happened. He was on his ship, in his cabin no less. That meant rum? Usually when he woke up like this it was the rum’s fault. But then when he tried to bring his hand up to cover his eyes he found that he couldn’t move it. He was handcuffed to the bed. And in recent experience, handcuffs meant only one thing. The bloody Swan woman had been there.

He groaned as he tried to dig back into his memories. He’d followed the Crocodile to some modern land. Had the Swan woman been there? He thought he could vaguely remember hearing she’d been with the Croc.

The Crocodile. He’d found him. Killian grinned a feral grin as he recalled sinking his poisoned hook into his foes chest. He’d won. The Swan woman must have knocked him out or something, he couldn’t really remember what happened afterwards. He had no idea how he’d gotten back to his ship, or who was even sailing it. But it didn’t matter.

No one could save Rumpelstiltskin now. He’d gotten his revenge.

Killian grinned wider, the familiar rocking of the ship riding through the waves only adding to his excitement. He moved his left arm up, intending to use his hook to break the cuffs, only to find that his metal appendage was missing. He should have guessed that whoever had left him here, probably the Swan woman, wouldn’t let him keep his hook. She probably knew what he could do with it.

Luckily, they hadn’t searched around his bed very well. It wasn’t hard for him to drag out a set of lock picks and get to work freeing himself. Ever since he’d lost his hand, he’d practiced undoing locks by holding the pick between his teeth. It wasn’t comfortable work, but the skill had come in handy more times than he could count.

The moment the cuff sprang open, Killian was out of bed and searching his quarters. There was always a chance that they hadn’t moved his hook far. He wasn’t about to face unknown adversaries without as many weapons as he could get. He knew that he should be quiet, that they might have some posted outside his door waiting for him to wake up, but he couldn’t help himself. He was too high off the thrill of killing his enemy to be overly cautious. So, while he scoured his room, he began to sing.

////

_‘Revenge, revenge, revenge, is finally mine!’_

The tune drifted through Emma’s soulmate connection and distracted her from her talk with Neal. Hook was awake and Henry was with Gold. From the sound of his singing, she guessed that Hook thought he’d killed the other man. That was good. He wouldn’t be looking for him yet. But she also knew that Hook wasn’t really one to stay trapped by a pair of handcuffs for long. He would get out, and there was no guarantee he wouldn’t stumble immediately onto Gold.

“I’m going to check on Hook,” Emma said abruptly, causing Neal to give her a confused look.

“Why? He was out cold five minutes ago.”

“A lot can happen in five minutes.” Emma didn’t give Neal another glance as she made her way slowly down to the captain’s quarters. She could hear shuffling from behind the door, he’d broken out of his bonds already. Great. Hopefully he hadn’t found his hook yet. She wasn’t planning on keeping it from him forever, but she really didn’t want to deal with an armed pirate right now.

Emma could hear drawers being opened, she remembered the layout of the room and thought that meant his back would be to the door. She could probably slip in without too much of a fuss and then hopefully get him to talk to her. She really didn’t want to make a racket but she needed to keep him occupied until they got to Storybrooke and she’d rather not have to knock him out again. He had to still be injured from the car accident and she really didn’t want to make it worse.

Emma slowly opened the door and peaked her head in, Hook was facing away from her. It didn’t seem like he’d noticed. Emma took a small breath to steady herself before slipping through the doorway and closing it behind her.

“You’re really bad at staying put,” she stated quietly, trying not to startle him. She noticed his shoulders stiffening slightly.

“Pirate, love,” he spoke slowly as he turned around to face her. She noticed him scanning the room, probably checking to see if she was alone. She noticed him relax slightly when he found that it was just her. This was good. He probably didn’t know Gold was still alive so as long as she distracted him until they got back to Storybrooke everything would work out. “Now be a good lass and return my hook.” There was his smirk. The one he used to cover up when he was uncomfortable.

“And why would I do that?”

“It’s bad form to tamper with a man’s hook, Swan.” The grin fell from his face, replaced by a glower.

“Ah yes, and it’s not bad form at all to stab someone with a poisoned weapon.”

“Come now lass, we both know the bloody crocodile deserved it.”

“Still, bad form to stab a man in front of his son.”

“Come now lass…” Hook’s eyes widened a fraction as he processed what she’d said, “Baelfire?” There was a tone of wonder in his voice that she’d never heard before. She hadn’t meant to tell him that Neal was here, she just sometimes forgot to keep her guard up around him and it had slipped out. She’d thought he’d be angry about it. That he might dislike Neal as much as his father. The tale Neal had told her didn’t make her think they were on good terms, but Hook’s face was telling a whole different story. “Is he here?”

“He’s… yes. He’s here. And he’s pretty pissed at you.”

“Bae…” Hook was a million miles (or years) away again. He didn’t seem to hear what Emma had said past learning that Neal was around. What the hell had happened between the two of them? She knew there had to be more to the story than what Neal had told her but she’d never expected Hook to react like this.

“He told me about what happened between the two of you,” Emma stated when it seemed like Hook was about to ask to see him. She needed to keep them apart for now. At least until she learned the whole story about what had passed. Hook’s expression changed from wonderment and joy to a small frown and a furrow in his brow. Troubled by something.

“I take it from your tone that you found the tale a mite distasteful.”

“The way he told it, sure.” Hook looked away, dejected. It seemed like he was honestly pained. Though if it was because he regretted what had passed or because Neal had badmouthed him she wasn’t quite sure. “But, I’m fairly certain there’s more to the story than what he chose to say.” Hook looked up at her, something that looked a whole lot like confusion clear in his eyes.

“What did he tell you?”

“I’d prefer to hear your side of it first.”

“Ah, the old constable trick to try and make each tale more honest?”

“Well I am a sheriff.”

“I suppose you are.” Hook fell silent as he sat back on his bunk. Emma was about to speak again, to break the silence, when he spoke up. “It’s not a pleasant tale, how I know the lad.”

“If you’re talking about Baelfire,” the strange name rolled off Emma’s tongue, “he’s a bit too old to be called a lad anymore.”

“Aye, I suppose he is.” They lapsed back into silence. This should be fine, he was obviously so lost in his thoughts that it would be easy to keep him distracted until they made port. But Emma wasn’t satisfied with that. She couldn’t believe that the universe would make her soulmates with the man Neal had described. There had to be more to the story and she was going to get it.

“Why don’t you start with how you met Milah,” Emma spoke softly, trying not to spook him. She knew he clammed up when Milah was brought up. His head shot up to give her an incredulious glare.

“How did you—What makes you think she has anything to do with this?”

“She was Nea—Bae’s mother, right? And Gold’s wife?” Hook looked at her another moment before turning his eyes back down to his brace. His right hand was fiddling with the straps.

“Aye, that she was.” Emma was almost surprised when he spoke. His voice was soft and sorrowful when he spoke. Emma knew it had been centuries since her death but the raw emotion in Hook’s voice made it seem like she’d been around yesterday.

“How did you meet her?” Emma sat in a chair at the table. She made sure to keep far enough away that he wouldn’t feel cornered, but close enough that she could touch him if she really reached.

“I still don’t see why this is any of your bloody business, Swan.”

“If the both of you are going to coexist in my town, I need to know what happened between you too and if I need to be on the lookout for yet _another_ stabbing.”

“I would never hurt Bae!”

“That’s not what he told me,” Hook’s face fell, “so how about you tell me what happened between you and that family. Like how you met Milah.” Hook took a deep breath and glared at her for a moment. She wasn’t getting anywhere. It was time to pull out her trump card. She really didn’t want to go there, but if she wanted to get answers, this was probably the only way. “I get that you don’t want to talk so I’ll go first. I’ll tell you why I deserve to know everything that happened.” Hook eyed her warily.

“I doubt you deserve to know anything, Swan, this really isn’t any of your business—”.

“Baelfire is Henry’s father.”

“What?” Hook looked at her in shock.

“I’ve always known him as Neal, I didn’t realize he was from there until today. And he’s being really vague about all these grudges that have the potential to harm _my_ son.” This was a big gamble. Hook now knew that Henry was Gold’s grandson. He could use him as a pawn in his revenge story. But she didn’t think that he would. Henry was descended from Milah, just like Neal was.

“Baelfire is a father?”

“Yes. He’s grown up a bit since you’ve last seen him. But now you know why I need you tell me everything. So start talking Hook.”

And he did. He told her all about how Milah had begged him to save her from Gold, how they’d been planning to go back and get Neal away from his coward of a father. Then she learned about how Gold had crushed Milah’s heart right in front of him, how in mere moments Hook went from having everything to losing his love and his hand. He skimmed over the next few years, until he ran into Neal again. How he’d tried to protect the boy from Pan and his forces. And how, when Neal had rejected him, Hook had turned him over to Pan.

“He was Milah’s blood. I never should have let him go! I should have protected him! I failed her but I won’t make the same mistake again.” Hook’s eyes were glistening by the time he finished his tale. Every word carried his sincerity of emotion. It could be a trick, he could be playing her, but Emma’s lie detector wasn’t blaring. She believed he was being honest. And now that he knew about Henry’s heritage, he’d protect him too.

////

Realizing that Swan was tied to Baelfire was shocking to say the least. He still thought of him as a lad, thought it had been centuries since that was true. And now he had a lad of his own, the very same child that Swan had been fighting to get back to. The lad that Cora and Regina were planning on stealing away.

Hook wasn’t supposed to know that, they had thought they were being secretive, but he was a pirate. He knew that his best chance of staying alive came with knowing what all parties were up to. And he’d been fine with their plan. Stealing the child was a good way to get payback on the Swan woman without him having to lift a finger. He didn’t really support kidnapping children, but he also wasn’t about to stop it. Now, though? Now that he knew more about the lad and where he came from?

Killian was glad that Swan had stepped out for a moment. He should have been wondering why she trusted him to stay put, but he was too preoccupied to care. This lad could be his second chance. He could right all the wrongs he’d done to Bae. He could guard Milah’s grandson from harm. He needed to tell Swan what he knew.

He heard her footsteps outside his cabin, the door began to creak open then stopped when a loud ringing sounded out. It was one of those infernal talking devices he’d seen people using in the town.

“Hello,” Swan’s voice was low as she spoke to the person on the other end. She probably thought that he couldn’t hear her, but Killian had better hearing than anyone expected. “Slow down Mary Margret,” she paused, “yes I’ve got him. We’ll have him back soon.”

Hook felt cold. Was she talking about him? Was he about to be used as a prisoner or a gambling piece against Cora? He should have known something was up when he woke up on the ship. The Swan woman had a history of leaving him behind, she wouldn’t have brought him with if she didn’t have some ulterior motive.  

“No, he’s still alive but it’s not pretty,” Emma’s voice was even lower this time, like she was trying to be extra careful that he wouldn’t hear her. And Hook was starting to see why. She wasn’t talking about him. She said someone was still alive, that could only mean one thing. The Crocodile. “He told me that Cora would be trying to get his dagger, you two need to find it first. That’s all I know. Now I have to go take care of a few things, I’ll see you soon.”

The door creaked open and Hook made it look like he hadn’t heard her talking. He didn’t know how to confront her yet. What he should do. Whose side he would be on when this came to a head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come find me on Tumblr: http://paranoiaqueen.tumblr.com/


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